Age of Ascension
by AlexanderXaviorTorrin
Summary: Update:FINALLY! I fixed it! Chapter 6 is now up! R&R! Getting the rest up soon!
1. 1

Disclaimer: I do not own armored core but I sure as hell would like to own it. I would make some serious changes.

Age of Ascension

Chp. 1

The year is A.E. (After Earth, as in after the Great Destruction) 347. It was the beginning of the age of prosperity. Past the trying times of the ever impotent controller, Nine-Ball, Silent Line and the Mars threat. It had been ten years since the ever-defending Navis had been destroyed and the mysterious threat of the thousands of A.I. controlled drones nearly destroyed the face of the planet Earth. Now with the world back on track, Corporation conflicts have been on the rise, the difference between the rich and the poor have only gotten larger, and Ravens, men and women who pilot large mechs known as Acs, have never before been in more business. Some age of prosperity.

Especially now with Earth reunited with it's sister planet, Mars, Corporations from both sides have been in a constant battle to either absorb or destroy one another.

However because of the radical increase in Corporation conflict; more Corporations such as the return of Zio Matrix(Mars) and Chrome(Earth), and the creation of Net Nav(Earth), Solaris Enterprises(Earth), MT Empire(Mars), and Bicentennial Industries(Mars) now added to the mix, it calls for many more Ravens. The influx of Ravens however caused a flurry of different idealisms, conflicting sides, and problems. With that in mind, it wouldn't seem completely crazy if more then one Raven Group arises.

Now the Ravens themselves are divided. Raven's Ark(Earth), Raven's Nest(Earth), The Principality(Mars), Nexus(Earth), The Frighteners(Mars), Elitist Organization(Mars), and The Knighthood(Mars). Each of these groups are at odds with each other and fighting to gain the power and recognition required from the Corporations to become the strongest Raven group. Howbeit, even with all of these groups, there are freelance Ravens everywhere in the two worlds. Traveling from planet to planet in search of business or the thrill of combat, these freelance Ravens have made a living for themselves without getting involved with the political clashes between either the Corporations, The Raven groups, or the planets themselves.

One such freelancer, Marcus Barrington, the "Lone Wolf" goes from planet to planet in search of the necessary funds to keep his somewhat large cargo ship in somewhat working order. Suddenly, his ship was attacked by Raiders, Ac pilots with no code of conduct whatsoever, and pretty much pillaged and plundered. Then instead of killing off Marcus, they let him drift into a nearby Space Station near the earth's Moon. This is where our story shall begin…

On Space Station "Rangor", Year A.E. 347, 18:45

"Goddamnit! Sons of bitches! Bastard punks from hell!" That was profane mouth of the ever-aging Marcus Barrington. Yet even at age 53, he could still keep up with most younger Ac pilots, just not 20 at the same time. No Ac could stand those odds and for sure not Marcus's Tank Ac, "Goliath." Now stuck in this rotting hellhole people call a Space Station, Marcus had no choice but to find lots of cash very quickly. There was no way in hell that he would let them get away with this. Then again, the whole 20 against 1 problem came back.

Standing in front of a window in the waiting room of the "Rangor" Repair Station and Dock, he was pretty much fuming. Even the people that were sitting quietly around him decided not to make a single sound. In his hands was the cost of the repairs, not only to his Ac, but also to his ship the "Avenger." Both were pretty much in shambles and would require extensive repairs, totaling up to around the neighborhood of six hundred thousand credits. Marcus only had about twenty thousand left from the raid on his ship and barely had any working parts to sell. Why couldn't they just have killed him instead of making him suffer?

Growling outloud in another fit of rage, someone actually had the gall to poke him in the shoulder to get his attention.

Spinning on a dime only to yell, "What!" He noticed that it was the desk clerk that he had just talked to and received this bill from.

Pushing up her very narrow glasses and showing no fear whatsoever, she calmly stated, "So how are you going to pay for this Mister Barrington? Cash or Credit?"

Marcus suddenly started sweating and tried to say something but only mumbles came out.

The desk clerk, with her sharp burgundy business suit, merely asked, "You don't have the sufficient funds for this, do you?"

"Maybe?" Marcus peeped.

Slam!

Marcus gaped in horror as he watched his poor "Avenger" being bolted and chained down in the impound lot.

"My baby!" He screamed as the final Mk XII Lockdowns came down on it, bolting down it's long slender form. He really hated his life right about now.

The impound officer walked out of the lot then locking the gate that opened into the lot, he turned to the gaping Raven and laughed.

"Sucks to be you right about now doesn't it?"

Marcus turned to him and gave him a glare that could wilt flowers.

The officer then decided to leave before he got beaten down by Marcus's large frame. The Raven definitely looked like he could kick his ass, he didn't need to find out.

After the officer left, Marcus sighed to himself and stretched his arms out to relax. After getting those few cricks, he thought about what he should do next. He could try and figure out how to get the money needed to repair his Ac, his ship, and pay the newly inducted ninety thousand credit impound fee…….Or he could just go to the nearby Bar and drown his worries in beer and alcohol.

Marcus nodded at the latter choice and started walking down the craggy sidewalk to a bar he saw not too far away. Considering the fact that his car had been taken by the raiders too, he had to foot it.

Marcus then looked around to truly get his bearings. He knew generally where he was at, just not that well. This was the city Lost Haven, where dreams are born then broken. It rested inside the remarkable advance atmospheric system of the Rangor Station. Speaking of which, Marcus remembered that the Rangor station was actually composed of three large Cities, each of them facing each other in a giant egg design that the station was created with. It looked weird that when you look up you could see one of the other citied but it definitely added an interesting feel to it. The gravity system, he remembered, was a marvel of technology itself. All three cities had their own field that expanded as far as the city limits in the form of a bubble. The fields however where created with opposing frequencies so they only expand as far as the opposite field was. That way each city had it's own gravity to simulate life on a planet. Even if you where just walking in circles no matter which way you walked. Then again the same could be said on just a regular planet.

Even the lighting system was very advanced. It simulated both daytime and night time from this elongated rod that spanned the length of the station but laid on the very edges of the grav fields. Right now, it was night time. Marcus looked at his watch, and after setting it to Ragnor Station time, it read 12:44. Just the right time to get drunk.

After quickly jogging his way through the busy traffic, he reached the "Got Spirits?" Bar and entered in. It was a decent bar, as compared to some others he had been to. This one was actually clean and had some strobe lights shooting out of every corner and wall. There was a dance floor in the middle which was occupied by a variety of people dancing as if the end was near. The music, though loud, had that techno beat to it that Marcus could actually enjoy. Aside from the fact that it was loud as hell. Surrounding the dance floor were the tables were people were enjoying themselves with drinking, talking, and……other stuff.

"Ah youth." Marcus sighed remembering the somewhat good old days. He missed those times where he was young and did all the stupid shit that he did. But aside from the fact that he was older he still is doing that same stupid shit.

Shaking his head, he walked around the dance floor and through the crowd that was just standing around watching people dance. When he reached the bar, he slapped the hard silver metal counter top and got the attention of the bartender. The craggy gray looking man, turned around and smiled, "Another Raven down on his luck?"

"Shut up and give me a beer." Marcus snapped.

The bartender gave a slight chuckle and said, "Just a beer?"

Marcus glared at him for a moment and then looked at his pocket, "Give me a cal-free beer."

The bartender burst into laughter and gave a Bud-Light, "Damn you must really be down on your luck."

Marcus snatched the beer from the bartenders hand and started drinking it. After the first few swigs, he put the beer down and realizing that this would take him more effort to get drunk then usual, he said, "Give me a bottle of Vodka."

The bartender nodded his head, "That'll put some hair on your ass. In fact……" The bartender looked around and ducked under the bar. After fumbling through some drinks he found his goal and came back up. "Catch."

He tossed the large bottle of clear liquid to Marcus and all Marcus could do once reading the front was smile. It was a bottle of Vodka from the year 1946. This thing had to be at least four to five hundred years old. The fact that it was still in one piece was a marvel in it's own.

But he kindly refused and said, "I can't afford something like this."

The Bartender pushed it back and said, "Nah, it's on the house."

Marcus pushed it back, "This thing is worth some serious money. Can't do it."

The Bartender pushed it back and said with a little more force then before, "You look like you need it more then I do."

Marcus looked at him for a moment and smiled, "Thanks for the comment. And the gift."

The Bartender nodded as he turned to grab a shot glass but as he turned back, he realized that this Raven must be really down on his luck. The guy just popped the bottle open and started guzzling it.

Halfway through the drink later, he slammed the bottle on the countertop and gasped. His entire chest was on fire and he was loving every moment of it. He already started feeling a little buzzed from it too. Damn this was one of the good ones. He felt like the heavy liquor was filling every single inch of his body warming, it was a sweet sensation. He quickly felt all of his worries and fears disappearing. But he still wasn't drunk yet. Though he would be after tonight.

Six drinks later, four for Marcus and two for the Bartender; they started talking about all sorts of stuff. Marcus finally got the name of the Bartender and his name was Ted. Marcus had almost hit the floor when he heard that name but he was able to somewhat keep his balance.

After their laughing fit, Marcus had told Ted about the Pirates that had revenged his ship and Ac. All Ted could do was join him in the crying. After they had finished crying, Marcus had suddenly decided to take a trip down memory lane.

"Damn. And I used to be so good too." Marcus said after gulping down another shot of Bacardi.

Ted looked up and with a slur, "What?"

"I used to be such a good pilot!" Marcus yelled almost over the music. "I was among the best. I could have taken on more then six Ac's at the same time."

Ted started giggling and asked, "When was that? The Stone Age?"

Marcus hit his head on the table and said subtly muffled, "Yeah. About twenty years ago."

Ted gave him a wryly look, as wryly as a drunk man could do, and replied, "Who did you fight for?"

"Raven's Ark. During the few years of peace that we had, I worked for Navis, Mirage, and Kisaragi."

"What about Crest?" Ted asked curiously.

"Bah! Fuck them." Marcus cursed, " Crest are a whole bunch of bastards with their own fucking stable of damned pilots."

"Oh." Ted nodded to himself and asked, "Genobee and Redstar?"

"Yeah. Them and the whole lot of them. That and Genobee stole something from me that I could never get back, just because I didn't have enough power."

Ted got curious and asked, "Did you fight in the Navis War?"

"Yeah. Mirage was the main buyer while Crest and Kisaragi were falling behind. So I had a lot of Mission requests from Mirage."

"What about after that one Raven got attacked by Mirage?" Ted asked wondering if this guy knew that Raven.

Marcus looked up and said, "That guy was good. He was able to destroy the Ac that was attacking that place while dodging all that firepower. But yeah, after that, I lost my taste for Mirage."

"Then what did you do?"

"I decided to help Navis a little. Even Kisaragi asked me to help them on the side." Marcus sighed and then sat up and stretched. Sighing again, he looked at the Bartender and released a hearty laugh. "What about you? What do you do besides getting friendly with drunk Ex-Ravens?"

Ted grinned and said, "I have always been a Bar-man. It's my life. I love it and this will be what I do till I die."

Marcus nodded impressed. The man had one hell of a goal. Going down with the ship took a very strong resolve. "What about family? Got anybody? Got a girlfriend maybe?"

Ted let out a small chuckle, "Marcus, I'm more then forty years old. Having a girlfriend would seem a little out of line, don't you think?"

"You're never too old, I always say." Marcus stated while swallowing another shot.

"Yeah, well the misses would think otherwise." Ted noted.

Marcus put his hands up in defense, "Oh? A married man?"

"More like a ball and chained man." Ted joked."

"I take it she wears the pants in the house?" Marcus asked now the curious one.

"More like the pants, shirt, boots, and hardhat." Ted took a gulp from his bottle of beer and added, "I guess that's what you get for marrying a Raven."

Marcus tipped over from his seat.

Ted looked over and found Marcus on the ground laughing his head off. Ted rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "I know, unbelievable isn't it?"

Marcus tried to say something but couldn't through the fit of laughter. Ted rolled his eyes again and asked, "Could you knock it off for just a moment?"

Marcus decided that now would be the best time and slowly got back up while looking around. It seemed there were other people who wanted to know why he was laughing so hard. Marcus grinned at them and sat back down on his stool. Looking back to Ted, he said, "Damn, that would definitely be a Ball and Chain relationship. A Raven huh? Who? Maybe I know her?"

"Well, she quit around the time Navis fell. She was one of their top defenders." Ted commented.

Marcus automatically knew who she was, "Rebel Cross? Used to be teammates with Iron Cross?"

"Yep."

Marcus thought for a moment and asked aloud, "But I thought that Iron Cross and Rebel Cross were lovers?"

"They still are." Ted stated with a sly grin on his face.

Marcus caught the hint and said surprised, "You're Iron Cross?"

Ted pulled up his sleeve and flexed his slight prominent arm muscles revealing a tattoo of a cross made out of rusty iron. "The one and only."

"Wow. Didn't see that coming." Marcus said still surprised.

Ted though had another question, "Hey Marcus?"

Marcus cocked an eyebrow at the sound of his name.

"What happened after those drones came in and destroyed everything. Where did you go? I mean I had heard rumors but I never heard anything definite." Placing his elbow on the table, "I mean I really doubt you were the first Freelancer."

Marcus sighed solemnly and said, "Let's just say that I got involved with the wrong group of fanatics."

Suddenly, the dance floor was in a frenzy and there was something or someone was running through the group. With slurry words of profane insults and cries of displeasure going about, Marcus got curious as to what was trying to get through. Ted was curious also.

Then out of the group came a little kid. He looked like he had seen a ghost, pale as anything. And his clothes, or more like rags, indicated that he had gotten into a little scrap with someone. Or maybe some people.

"Hey kid!" Ted yelled out in obvious amusement and anger, "What do you think you're doing in here?"

The kid though paid no mind to him and started looking for someone with a look of bewilderment on his face. Marcus could recognize that something, or someone had scared the crap out of him. What it was, he was certainly interested in.

The kid finally found his target which was a young looking girl in the corner enjoying a drink with an assortment of other individuals. Marcus recognized all of them as Ravens, and by the fist and white sword insignia on their shoulder, they had to be among the Knighthood. These guys were rough and tough but were bound by an Honor's code that helped them select their missions. They mostly picked missions that involved people being oppress by other corporations. Still, with that mentality, they were often criticized and killed because of their lackluster commitment to the kill. Marcus however appreciated that someone, or group, still had some common decency in the word.

Of course, that decency was completed tossed out the window by the next group that came in. Just as the boy had reached the girl and the girl sent a flurry of questions to him, another group came in shoving their way through the crowd. At first even more profane judgment was sent upon the people who interrupted them but they were quickly silenced. In fact the dance floor seemed to part ways like Moses to the Red Sea.

And once Marcus saw the group he completely understood why. He spun around in his chair and faced Ted quickly saying, "Don't look at them!"

Ted looked for a moment longer and asked, "Why?"

Marcus grabbed him by his collar and pulled him down practically screaming out in a whisper, "They're Frighteners!"

Ted got that pale look on his face as well and ducked under the table.

Frighteners… They were pretty much the darkest part of humanity. They were a group of B, A, S, and SA class Ravens who held no regard for humanity whatsoever. They were called in on the most dangerous and often the most messy of missions. With the abandonment that they carry, they often kill in public just to have fun. And nobody will do anything about it because they are pretty much scared shitless of them. Of course, that doesn't mean that Marcus is scared of them. He just knows what they can do in a place like this.

And whatever this boy did to them to make them chase after him, he felt sorry for the boy. They would most likely kill him and kill whoever protects him. Which meant that the five Raven pilots that sat at the table, all who Marcus guessed were from The KnightHood, were pretty much struck. And from the looks on their faces, they realized that too.

"Where is he?" One of the larger male Frighteners bellowed, "I'ma rip that little runt to pieces as soon as I get my hands on him!"

Marcus took another drink from his wondrous Bacardi and wondered as to what the little kid did to gain such an audience.

"Shut up Vicious." A somewhat younger female Raven snapped. Even though she was half the other guys size, he shut up really quickly. It seemed that she was the one that instilled fear amongst them, therefore she was the one in charge. Still, even though she look small, their was a air of ruthlessness about her that nearly seemed inhuman.

"It's you're fault that you let the kid get in your Ac and fuck with the controls."

"I only left the cockpit to let the air out! It was only for-"

Marcus didn't even see the arm fly as the larger Raven was slammed with what looked and elbow right to the side of his face. The one in charge seemed to had nailed him straight to the ground. And what was even more scary was the fact that the guy didn't even do anything about it. He just sat on the ground trying to soothe out the stinging sensation that enveloped his face.

The female Raven looked at him for only a moment and then turned and found the kid being clutched but his very scared sister. Even though both females were Ravens, Ravens from different groups often found dislike for the other group. At the top were the Frighteners.

"Give me the kid," The Frightener ordered coldly.

The girl held on to him harder and yelled, "No! Just get out of here! He didn't do anything to you guys!" The other four KnightHood Ravens stood up and surrounded their comrade and her younger brother who looked as scared as his sister.

Marcus turned back to the female Frightener and watched at how she laughed with such a cold emptiness. She tossed her semi-long black hair back revealing a ghastly scar on her face that ran from her chin up over her eye. She still had her eye, but it was obviously fake. The injury had been very destructive from just the look. But just the fact that she survived something like that was a bit scary. Which only added to it's intimidation role.

"That rat had the gall to mess with Breaker's Ac. Though he is the ass for letting something like that happen, it's still unforgivable." She said coldly.

The other Raven looked at her younger brother, scared out of his mind, and then closed her eyes for only a moment. Marcus for a moment there actually thought that she was going to turn him over. He was wrong thankfully.

She opened her eyes and then stood up placing herself between the Frightener and her brother. "You won't touch him." Her other comrades moved forward as well, bravely placing themselves right beside her in obvious defiance.

The Frightener chuckle and whipped out a large black handgun, aiming for the head of the female Raven that would defy her. And just as everything was about to go to hell, a large white hand grabbed the gun and pointed it upward just as it fired.

The shot resounded through the entire room scaring the mess out of everyone. Most of them took off, screaming in fear while a few stayed just to see what would happen.

The Frightener looked to the side and saw Marcus standing there with his hand on the gun. Snarling violently at him, she let go of the gun and tried to punch him in the face but Marcus, even though aged, was still very fast, and moved out of the way. Then he grabbed her by the wrist twisted her arm around and pinned her against the counter.

The other Frighteners reacted by pulling out their guns but they stopped once they saw that Marcus had placed his newly acquired gun against the forehead of their commander.

"Now then," Marcus said politely while looking at all of the Ravens, "We don't need any bloodshed today."

The Frightener under his grip shook fiercely trying to get up and threatened, "Get off me or I'll kill you!"

Marcus rolled his eyes and said, "No, you won't Eva."

The Female Frightener stop shaking and got a confused look on her face. She turned her head as best as possible as tried to take in her holder's face. Suddenly her face lit up with the light of recognition. "Marcus? Lone Wolf?"

The other Frighteners gasped outloud while the Knighthood Ravens, backed up a little.

Ted looked up from over the counter as for he was curious as to why everyone started getting surprised.

Marcus smiled at Eva and said, "Sorry for the rough handling but I'm not going to let you take a life today." He let Eva go and as she slowly got up, turning to Marcus, Marcus expertly snapped the chamber off and dropped the dismantled gun to the floor.

Eva looked at him in disbelief and then snarled, "You were always so damned soft 'Lone Wolf.' You never did enjoy the taking of lives as we did. Even if you were one of us."

Ted gasped quietly and whispered, "He was a Frightener!"

The KnightHood Ravens looked like they had taken a crap in their pants now wondering what was going to happen. One of them spoke out to Marcus, "Are you indeed the Legendary 'Lone Wolf?' The Raven said to have taken on twenty others in combat and won?"

Then another one added, "The one who defeated the legion of Mts single handedly? The Army made by MT Empire?"

Marcus scratched his head and said, "Well I don't know about the twenty Acs parts. It was more like eighteen. But yeah, that's me."

The girl Raven backed up, "But you are Frightener, aren't you?" She asked hesitantly.

Marcus shook his head, "Nope. That's Ex-Frightener now. But out since the Neo Vass City slaughter."

Eva suddenly grinned and said, "Ah, good times, good times."

Marcus glared at her for only a moment and said to the other Ravens, "You guys can go. They won't mess with you."

The Frightener Ravens started objected stating that they had the right to retaliate but it only took a snap look from Marcus to shut them up.

The female Raven clutched her brother tightly as they moved around the Frighteners and then moved out to the door. She was the last to leave, turning around to Marcus, she called out, "My name is Sophia, 'Last Ark', I hope I can repay you one day." And before Marcus could say no, she left.

Marcus sighed and said to Eva, "Now are you going to mess with them anymore?"

Eva growled under her breath and quietly said, "No." She knew Marcus all to well. He was the protecting type so he wouldn't allow her or her men anywhere near those other Ravens. She would just have to wait.

"Good." Marcus said suddenly feeling the drunken feeling coming back again. He turned to Ted who was now vividly interested and threw him the last of his credits. "Thanks for the drinks"

Ted nodded and watched him leave. Then turning to the Frighteners, he laughed, "So he was the Legendary Lone Wolf that led the Frightener group, 'Exile 13', correct?"

Eva did not say nor did nothing.

"The same group you guys are, correct?" Ted said while pointing to the Emblem on their Raven Uniforms. It was a Raven flying with the numbers in black, 13.

"Wasn't he also involved with the Neo Vass City-"

"Are you done, 'Iron Cross?'" Eva snapped.

Ted was shocked at first that she recognized him, but he just dismissed it and said, "Have a nice day."

Eva snorted and snapped, "Whatever."

Well, now Marcus has officially had a piss poor day. One, he has no money, no Ac, and no ship to get off this bubbling pot of hatred between Ravens. Well, that was actually more like three problems. But now he has an idea and it wasn't pretty. He knew this was a haven for different types of Ravens and shit but he didn't know that the Frighteners were here. Simply put, they don't like anybody so that's bad news for everyone. And depending on how many Frighteners are here will determine just how many people will suddenly go missing. In the end, it will go bad, very bad.

His second problem was now he was among those that the Frighteners hate. Well, that's no change. The Frighteners don't stand for Ravens that leave them. Too many secrets and so forth. The only one-up that he had on them was that they didn't know where he was. Now they do and now he was screwed.

But hell, it really didn't matter. He had nothing to his name save for the scrap pile of an Ac sitting in front of him in the Rangor Station Ac repair shop and that wasn't really worth anything right about now.

And after all that drinking, he wasn't even half drunk! He had planned to be laid out against the ground pretty much into a coma by now. Instead he's as sober as a new born baby getting his rear slapped to hell and back. And here walking was some more bad news.

Marcus turned from looking at his melted Ac and saw the Master Chief Technician walking up to him. He had the standard blue jumpsuit that came with all techies, but it was actually clean cut and sparkling. Which seemed weird since this guy would be the top dude getting dirty from repairs and mess.

From Marcus's memory, his name was Roy, Roy Arcturus. He owned one of the many repair company firms that served as a major tool for Ac pilots, Mt pilots, and Corporations alike. He was supposed to be brilliant when it came to Ac construction and reconstruction. And with an army of mechanics that are just as good as he is, or near, he can recreate any Ac from any type of destruction. Maybe he can save Goliath.

Roy walked up to Marcus and sighing sorrowfully, Marcus already knew what was the result. Roy ran his hard worn hands through his old black hair and decided to just flat out tell him the bad news.

"Marcus, you're boned." Was the best way he could put it.

Marcus rolled his eyes and groaned, "How bad is it? You told me it would only be a hundred thousand credits over the phone."

Roy snapped his head to him and pointed at him, "And you said it was a somewhat damaged Ac. Not one that had been raped by twenty different Acs." Roy turned back to the slag of molten steel and retorted, "You can't even salvage these parts. They have been destroyed beyond any type of restoration. I could repair them."

Marcus's eyes glowed with the light of hope.

"But it would cost you more then the actual cost of the Ac, complete ammo refit, and tuning combined. It could easily run you over four hundred thousand credits."

Marcus exploded in rage and disbelief, "How the hell does it cost that much!"

Roy looked at Marcus like he was a newborn child, even though he was most likely five years his senior at least, and explained with the experience he had gained through the years, "When someone asks to get an Ac repaired, it usually consists of damaged parts, replacing ammo, and maybe even replacing some minor or major parts here and there. The smallest I've dealt with would be armor missing because of shrapnel, to the biggest, replacing arms and joints. This!" He pointed to Goliath, "Is not some armor missing. Both arms are fragged to hell. All of the rolling mechanisms and ball point system in the tread system are completely fried or melded into each other. The outer and inner rim armor have been either completely destroyed, removed, or wielded onto the exoskelton of the body. All the weapons are either useless due to malfunctioning parts or key components being fragged. Your Lx cannon for instance is now completely useless because the satellite configuration system is damaged beyond repair. All of the microchips are zapped and the triangulation system is ruined. The barrel has bent to a complete ninety degree angle and it's missing most of the firing mechanisms. And that's just scratching the surface. Want to know the rest?"

Marcus was just beyond stunned. Guess it made sense. Taking on twenty was full-hardy at best. But still, where the hell was he going to get that much money.

"Tis a sad shame that Goliath has been brought down from it's former glory like that." A cold voice stated from behind Marcus.

Marcus instantly recognized the voice and whirred around. "Eva."

Roy turned around as well and sighed, "Great, Frighteners."

Eva walked up to Marcus and said to Roy, "Leave now."

Roy put his hands up and said, "Hey, I know when to leave. Especially with you." He strolled out and left Marcus and Eva to themselves.

After a few moments of akward silence, Eva said out of the blue, "You're like wine, you

look better with age."

Marcus chuckled and replied, "And you seem to just get into more danger with pain. Sometimes, I think you and him got a thing going on."

Eva grinned slightly and placed her hand over her eye, "This was punishment surprisingly." He said with a ruthlessness she saved only for those she hated most.

Marcus cocked an eyebrow and asked, "From who?"

"Laura." She stated flatly.

Marcus cringed at the sound of that name.

Laura Vargras. She was the second in command of the Frighteners. And you just don't get up there by bullshitting around. She is second only to Leos Klein, the leader of the Frighteners.

No, not to be confused with the original Leos Klein, the one who was involved with Phobos and the Disorder units. This guy only claims that he is part of his lineage. But one thing is for sure, whatever he claims, his skills more then back it up. Being number one in the Frighteners gives you a lot of enemies, within the organization and outside of it. Even still, the callousness and savageness you need to stay at that level is more then what normal humans should be able to have. Apparently he raises the bar at how horrid and dangerous a human being can be.

And Laura Vargras is right under him, and the only reason she hasn't taken his stop yet is because she hasn't had the chance to kill him yet. She has tried, and Leos has enjoyed every time she has tried. In fact, he turned it into a game. If she wins, she claims his title. If he wins, she is his forever. And it's not a bad catch either, even at 38 she has a very firm body with many temptations. Which can easily explain many things.

Still, why did Laura do that to Eva? What's the story behind that?

Marcus grabbed Eva by the shoulders and just as he was about to ask, Eva interrupted him.

"Don't worry about it. It's none of your concern."

Marcus sighed and shook his head. Then turning back to his own personal scrap heap, he forked the question, "Then what do you want?"

Eva turned professional suddenly and said, "I have a mission request for you."

Marcus got bug-eyed and looked at Eva, "A mission? For me?"

"Yes you." Eva snapped, "I suggest you take it. It's very profitable."

"No, no, no." Marcus knew this was too good to be true, "I'm Ex-Frightener. I don't do missions for you guys."

"No, you're Freelancer." Eva replied, "You accept missions from anyone."

Marcus shut up quietly after realizing how true that was. Then after thinking about it, he decided to bite. "What does it offer exactly?" There was definitely something wrong with this, and he wanted to know what. It was probably a ploy to kill him. They do shit like this.

"Two hundred thousand credits with bonuses. With a complete refit of Goliath." She stated like a businessman.

Oh yeah, ploy to kill him. "Screw that."

Eva's eyes turned to slits, "What?"

Marcus crossed his arms and said quite angrily, "You really think I'm going to just fall into something like that and get killed doing it? Please! I don't know how you think I am but it won't work."

Eva growled her usual growl and snapped, "Stop taking everything like we want to kill you! Believe it or not, Leos wants you back! Not dead!"

That caught Marcus's attention, "Who wants me back?"

This time Eva, crossed her arms and said more angrily then Marcus was, "Leos! He wants to change the way we have been doing things just to get you back in. He thinks you were too good of a pilot to just leave like you did. He wants to bring you back. This is a small incentive for it."

Marcus shook his head, "I'm not going back. Simple as that."

"He just wants' you to think about it."

"I'm not going to"

Eva really started getting angry now, "Whether or not you come back, this is a mission request from the Frighteners. Not some initiation ritual. It's you choice."

Marcus thought about it for a moment. It did seem nice. And he really needed the money. If he said no, then they would find somebody else and he would still need a huge amount of money. And without an Ac, he would have to do other jobs, more dangerous and reckless then his profession. 'Damnit.' Either way he was screwed.

"Fine then, I accept."


	2. 2

Chp.2

Next time when Marcus accepts a mission from anybody, (hint, hint, the Frighteners), he is going to take a lot more time in determining what exactly it consists of. And next time he'll try not to be so damned desperate to the point where even if he did know about the mission specs, he wouldn't accept it because he didn't need it so much.

Well unfortunately for him, he needed the money and is now in a world of hurt. It seemed simple enough on the outside. He had a meeting with Leos Klein himself and Laura Vargras. They both explained in the nicest way possible that one of their facilities for research and development suddenly was lost and they had no idea why. Just one day all comms with the base and them just were cut off. They didn't bother telling him what they were researching in the facility, which obviously mean that it was either illegal or inhuman. Either way it wouldn't end well.

Well at first they just thought that it was a malfunction in either the personnel or the equipment. So they sent in a small group of Mts. Soon after they entered the facility, they were never heard from again. So then they sent in some of their lower ranking Frighteners in to find the Mts and the reason for the sudden disappearances. The same thing happened to them as well. Now they were apparently worried about what the hell was going on.

Marcus quietly had commented at that time, 'My ass, they just don't want to waste anymore money.'

Luckily for him, only Leos heard him and he had laughed wholeheartedly. If Laura had heard him, she probably would have threatened his life or something along those lines. Even still, Leos looked a little desperate for his help. And at the moment, Marcus was very happy to oblige. They had repaired his entire Ac. Now it was armed with a brand new Linear Cannon on the back, the long and slick Karasawa laser rifle on the left arm, and the small but deadly Pixie 3 on the right arm. His Tank was now armored to the brim with armored extensions and some of the best tuning available. Armed with the Hoshi so no one can get on top of him that easily, and an Exceed Orbit Core instead of the traditional Over Boost Core that many other tank models have, he has the firepower to decimate any Ac. Or anything else for that matter. Hell, he might need it.

Now, this is where it went from, Sweet to Shit. He had accepted and everything was done…..except! He had to have an escort. And not any escort. Laura had to go with him.

Sitting in the cockpit of his Ac, he could think of a hundred thousand ways that this would end horrible for him. Here he was sitting in a massive tank on one of the Fleet Model air carriers used to transport Acs and such, right alongside Laura Vargras, in her middle weight model, "Lucifer." Quaint little name ain't it.

The entire trip had been one long silence fest with Marcus bored out of his mind. He had nothing to do but watch the ever-watchful Laura inside her Lucifer. Why the hell she wanted her Ac to face his was beyond him.

Twiddling with an air freshener he had put on one of his upper consoles, he thought of something to do but realized that there was nothing to do. He had already done a system's check, three times. Everything was in perfect working order, save for him. He was running on five hours of sleep and that wasn't good.

Still, he needed something to do. He reached for the comms to see if anybody wanted to talk when he realized that Laura had been sending him a hail. Earlier he had turned his comms off because he wanted sleep badly. She knew this so all she sent was a small hail signal. Guess whatever she wanted to talk about wasn't that important. Hell, anything right now to lift the zombiefied mood would be great.

He flipped the comms switch and saw Laura's steel cold face popped up on his side screen. Marcus had to admit, even though he was heartless and a number of other things, she was still an enchanting woman. She had long dark blue hair that wrapped around her hard face and dazzling but frightening cold light blue eyes and she was only 38. She was donning the black and red pilot's uniform that the Frightener Officers wore that wrapped tightly around her body. Even though he couldn't see much in the screen. He saw plenty out of her Ac. It only confirmed his suspicions as to why Leos made the little game between them. Guess it turned him on or something along those lines.

Finally realizing that he had answered her hail, she seemed a little surprised that he responded. Then she chuckled and said coldly, "So Sleeping Beauty finally walks?"

Marcus stretched his arms out and yawned, "Yeah, needed that beauty sleep." But considering he didn't even sleep, it was a complete lie. "So what did you want?"

Laura seemed confused at first then looked down at her console remembering that she had sent the request. After a moment she leaned forward placing her elbows carefully on the console in front of her without hitting any buttons that might cause them to go down in a blaze of idiotic mistakes, and carefully asked, "Why did you leave?"

Marcus cocked an eyebrow up and Laura repeated, "Why did you leave the Frighteners?"

Marcus suddenly got a grim look on his face and then looked to the side saying, 'I'd rather not discuss it."

Laura tipped her side a little and asked, "Why not?" her voice carried no remorse seeing as she was hitting a tender stop.

Marcus closed his eyes and said, "I got tired of killing, that's all."

"Bullshit, " Laura stated flatly.

Marcus glared at her.

"You were-no still are a Frightener. I can see it in your eyes. I can see the killing passion in your eyes. Just like my eyes and Leos's." She peered straight at Marcus, concentrating on his eyes.

Marcus growled and replied a little angrily, "Don't compare me to heartless murderers."

Laura then, for the first time Marcus had ever seen or heard about, smiled. "Heartless murderers? Please, mankind has killed each other for different reasons for the entire time he was created in this universe. It isn't even called murder anymore," With a sudden grin that smiled to bring the Lucifer out in her, she continued, "It's just someone killing another for what they believe in. I believe in the Frightener way.'

"Which gives you the right to kill innocents?" Marcus snapped forcefully.

Laura cocked an eyebrow in confusion and finally realized something, "Oh. That's right. You left shortly after the Neo Vass City slaughter. It was your group that did that correct? Exile 13?"

Marcus said nothing. His face however said novels of words. The most basic message was, 'He didn't need to be reminded.'

"I was impressed. So was Leos." She decided to throw in.

"What do you mean by that?" Marcus asked, his anger rising inside of him.

Laura grinned a little and explained, "You were ordered to kill the pirates that decided to take a gamble and steal from one of our conveys. You did so with the proficiency worthy of that of a Frightener."

Marcus looked down, while remembering that day when he had killed so many in just a couple of hours. He had truly learned the power of Acs then. And he didn't like it. The only reason he continued was to complete his true goal in life. No not revenge for anybody listening in. He wasn't a revenge kind of guy. It was something much more grander then that.

"When you had done that," Laura had suddenly shifted her body closer together, "I had so suddenly developed a yearning for you. And even after all these years, I wouldn't mind tapping into that temptation." She gave a sultry look which definitely changed the atmosphere to a different note.

At least on her end. Marcus on the other hand, though the second thing he uses to think with was screaming, 'Do it man!', he commented, "You got turned on because I killed some many people?"

"It was the way you did it," She said with her face turning a little flushed, "It was like a dance with death."

Marcus glared at her, "Sad shame that only one of us feels that way."

Laura looked into Marcus's eyes, "You're not interested in my passion?"

'Yes!' "Nope." He said with a monotone voice.

Laura chuckled and sighed, "I see. I guess I'll just have to entertain myself with Leos."

Marcus growled and snapped off the comms.

After that the only person that said anything was the pilot telling them that there was only twenty minutes till touchdown. Other then that, it was a graveyard. Till the docking bay doors opened and the Pilot said, "Good Luck."

Lucifer was first in it's evil filled black color. It was armed with a dangerous assortment of weapons. A Pixie 3 in the right hand, a Moonlight on the left, and the smaller Gnl on the back. With added armor for extensions and OP-I, it was truly fearful monster in battle. It carried the speed and firepower to take on Marcus's Goliath. It would then only be a matter of skill then. And Marcus is a little aged giving Laura the edge, if only slightly.

Lucifer jumped backwards out into the darkness of the night. It was enveloped in it's own blanket of security, in it's own world as it sliced through the air. Laura expertly activated her boosters at the last second to avoid detection and to prevent her from hitting the ground too hard. Marcus was impressed. She knew exactly how much shock her legs could take and adjusted her boosters to take off any excess stress while making it very difficult to see the exhaust from her thrusters.

But of course, Goliath was completely different. After the green light came on, Marcus pushed the tank out of the bay and dropped nearly three times faster then Laura did. But unlike Laura he didn't even activate the thrusters and hit the ground at nearly five hundred miles per hour. Marcus didn't even feel the bump seeing as he had some of the best anti-shock technology wrapping the cockpit. Of course, when the tank hit the ground it made a crater fully accompanied with dust and debris jumping up everywhere. And like a true Goliath, Marcus rolled his tank forward toward Lucifer like nothing had ever happened. That's why Marcus loved Tanks, you can't really hurt them unless you have a tank yourself, then it becomes either a damage race or a true test of skill.

After catching up to Lucifer who was already on her merry way to the little bunker looking base, he was about to ask more about the mission when she interrupted him with, "Need you make so much noise?" Laura snapped coldly apparently getting into that mission mode kind of fame.

Marcus turned Goliath's head to Lucifer and replied, "So sue me. But it's kind-of hard to land a hundred plus ton tank without a whisper if you know what I mean."

"Hmph." Laura snorted, "Tanks are so meaningless."

"How so?" Marcus asked.

Lucifer stopped suddenly near the edge of a dune in the desert where their mission was, and placed a hand out stopping Goliath.

Lucifer peered it's head over the highest point of the dune and saw the desert bunker base, registered as Research Facility Solaris, She knew what was hidden in there. She knew exactly what was being created. How someone else found out and attempted to take the base over was beyond her and Leos. But she had direct orders to found out whom and make them pay, very, very dearly.

Marcus, even if he was of wise age, was getting bored. None of his instincts were going off and his sensors were dead. So it seemed everything was fine. That's when Lucifer activated its OverBoost and launched itself across the short distance between the dune and the Bunker. Groaning at the fact that Laura knew he was in a much slower tank, he pushed Goliath's massive weight forward and took his time taking in everything. They didn't tell him hardly any details on this place. All they told him was that something happened, found out what. But from the looks of it, it was a pretty small bunker with one door just large enough to fit in a single Ac.

Lucifer reached the doors first and sent the signal to open the doors. At first they didn't but after a few seconds they just flew open. The doors led to an elevator just large enough for an Ac.

This puzzled Marcus. To the point where he started looking around for clues and found a few more oddities to this puzzle. There were old blackened craters everywhere indicating that either there was a battle between the Mts or Acs and something else, or it was just something else completely. Whatever it was, Marcus did not like it. This was too familiar, and the last time it happened, he ended up almost dead.

He finally reached the doors and popped them open. He rolled into the elevator and activated the lift. All the gears churned and groaned, giving Marcus a newer and more anxious sense of false security, and started on their trip deeper into the belly of the beast. Lights on all four sides past by periodically giving the whole thing a more surreal type of suspense. Marcus shook his head. He was made of tougher stuff then this. Hell, he used to be a Frightener, if that says anything. Still, something about this unnerved him badly. And the next scene didn't help.

The elevator suddenly stopped and the doors parted to a hallway filled with broken Mts and maimed Acs. Marcus was definitely caught off guard. The hallway flashed with broken lights that gave it an horror movie aura. Considering Marcus was looking at Humans who where brutally killed by something that was obviously very powerful. And now Lucifer was nowhere in sight.

Marcus sighed realizing that he really might be getting too old for them and then rolled Goliath forward. His machine crunched over pieces of dead Acs and for a moment he thought he heard a squish. He pushed his Ac faster, wanting to get through this graveyard of flesh and machine faster, and finally made it to the end which emptied out into a large room.

As Marcus rolled in he realized that large was completely out of the question. It was more like massive. The lighting was poor so he couldn't see the walls but he had a relative idea at where they were. There were columns everywhere and also what it looked like there was some type of battle here. There were scorch marks everywhere and some of this columns were missing pieces. Goliath continued to moved forward scanning every single millimeter of the room but to Marcus's surprise, there was nothing here. No even-

"Marcus!" Speak of the Devil.

Marcus hit the comms switch, "What? Where are you?"

"You have to get out of there now!" Laura warned.

Marcus could sense the genuine worry in her voice. "What are you talking about?"

"You have to get out of there, I found out the reason why and you have to get out now!"

"Why? What's the reason?" Marcus said catching the fear that was jumping around.

"It's right in front of you!" Laura screamed.

"What!" Marcus looked forward with all sensors on max but nothing was there. "What the hell are you talking-"

Suddenly, something rocked his Ac, and hard too. Goliath was skidding backwards for more then three hundred feet. He was pretty much back in the hallway!

"Fucking hell!" Marcus pushed Goliath back into the room and then boosted in the air. All of his sensors where looking for whatever hit him but they couldn't find it. Marcus cut the boosters and hit the ground hard. Then he turned a bit right then back to the left. All of his weapons were hot and ready but no target was in sight. Marcus took this opportunity to take a look at how much damage he took. His Ap gauge started at 9785 but according to his readout, it was now at 6785.

Marcus's jaw just dropped. It wasn't possible. With the amount of armor he had, it would take a couple of Linear Cannon shots alone to do that much damage that quickly. But here he didn't even see what hit him and it didn't look that fancy either so it was a small attack! Marcus hit the readout on his console thinking that maybe the six was supposed to be a nine but it didn't change.

Then out of the corner of Marcus eye, he saw something sparkle. He turned to the source and saw a purple light in what seemed like midair. Marcus concentrated on it and turned Goliath to face it frontal. Better face to face, just in case, then from the side. He waited for something to happen but nothing did. Until another light, this one light blue, appeared under the purple light. This one however was a tad larger and growing with the second.

"Oh shit." Marcus twisted the tank legs on his Ac to the side and pushed the thrusters to max gaining as much air as possible.

The blue light shuddered of a moment, collapsed and then ignited into a beam that was larger then the Linear Cannon. Marcus dropped his thrusters, falling right under the screeching beam of energy. The beam then hit a column slicing right through it and through a handful more till it exploded against something. The explosion though was just as large as the beam, causing a firestorm dome in the darkness of the room. For only a moment the entire room was lit up and Marcus finally realized where he was.

There were Ac corpses everywhere. Mangled machines twisted and bent in everyway possible. Scorched beyond recognition. There were holes in the ground, deep enough to bury Goliath, with what looked like Acs as their occupants. Everywhere the smell and aura of death and destruction remained evident. It was a goddamned slaughterhouse.

"Son of a bitch-" Another beam come flying across his vision barely striking him but still doing serious damage to his Ac. The heat alone of the energy being launched at him was enough to cause more the seven hundred points of damage to his armor. Parts of his armor had been melted just by the heat!

Marcus turned to the purple light, still hanging in the same place and pointed all of Goliaths weapons to it. The purple light then disappeared.

"What in the?" Marcus started looking around, while programming his sensors for heat signatures, maybe then he would be able to get a heads up on where the hell this monster was.

And where the hell was Laura! Marcus snapped on the comms and yelled as loud and gently as he could, "Laura where the fuck are you? You need to back me up goddamnit!"

Suddenly his sensors blared. Marcus turned to the side and shouted while turning to face him, "There!"

The purple light appeared and in a second fired a new weapon. Or what may have been a new weapon. From somewhere, Marcus had no clue as to where, seven more lights appeared surrounding the purple light. Then from each light, beams of green energy shot out. Marcus grinned as he kicked the boosters to max and turned hard to the side landing behind a column. Hopefully the column was enough to withstand these little beams. Yet Marcus hadn't expected what happened next. The beams twisted around the column, passing it then twisted back around and hit Marcus's left arm. The green beams sliced through his armor and almost destroyed it completely. It was only thirty percent functional now.

Inside his cockpit, every siren was going off. Marcus was cursing himself at the fact that that had happened, cursed himself for Laura being a bitch, and cursed himself for being so damned broke as to be desperate enough to take this damned job. With his arm pretty much in pieces trying to hold up a weapon like the Karasawa, it would be a cold day in hell to be able to use it. Even still he didn't have much of a choice. It was now do or die.

Marcus gritted his teeth and wheeled around the corner only to find that the little purple dot had disappeared.

"Damnit!" Marcus cursed. Whatever the hell was attacking him obviously had the advantage with superior maneuverability, superior firepower, and it was invisible. That automatically kindof beats Marcus. Even with his sensors, this model of active camo is far more advanced then anything he had ever fought before.

Goliath circled around, all weapons trained forward. But his armor was at barely three thousand. His arm was almost gone, stressing under the weight of the undamaged Karasawa rifle. Then his sensors went off like mad. It was behind him!

Marcus struggled to turn his heavy Ac around but he realized that he would never make it. His sensors detected a massive heat source and he knew what was going to happen. But what he didn't expect was that the beam veered off target and sliced right through a column that was next to him. He finished turning around and saw Lucifer with it's overboost at max. Lucifer had shoulder rammed whatever was attacking him. He saw the purple dot move fast but wasn't able to recover from the hit in time and hit another column. The dot rose up but electricity started zapping from areas around the dot. Then the air around it started to phase and shift, turning into an Ac.

"What the hell is that!" Marcus gasped. It was way different then anything he had ever seen. It looked like a lightweight but carried more weapons then a tank! It had some type of duel back weapon that look like eight spears sticking out. Damn thing look like an ostrich. Then in both of its hands was a beam cannon that was longer then the damned Ac! It was slick like a Karasawa and obviously it was the energy weapon that was hammering him. But still, how was this thing able to hold that and the other two weapons it had which startled Marcus the most. They looked like long barrels on the shoulders where the extensions were supposed to go. The barrels stopped right before knees on the Ac, still, what the hell they were, Marcus didn't even want to know. All he knew was this. The thing was looking at him real hard. So hard in fact that he was raising his hand held beam weapon at him.

Marcus knew he wouldn't be able to hit the thing. Once he saw what it was, it all clicked. So he had to develop a plan now. Attacking the thing from the front would be impossible. Laura didn't realize that fact and dashed right in the line of fire alternating with her grenade launcher and her Machine Gun. But all of her weapons fire was hitting an energy shield of some type.

"Laura!" Marcus yelled. It was only seconds before it would fire. "Hit him from the back! Now!"

Lucifer turned to Goliath for only a second and then dashed forward past the uncaring Ac and turned hard and with a battle cry that seemed to echo through the room, slashed with all her weight with the moonlight. The Ac took the full brunt of the slash but didn't even move.

"More!" But it was too late. The Enemy Ac fired the weapon. Marcus boosted as hard as he could to the side but couldn't stop the beam from completely melting his right arm off with his own machine gun.

After the Ac fired that, it lowered it's weapon and spun around with only a quick thrust of it's boosters and faced Lucifer. The weapon then changed into a more stocker but smaller weapon. Then from the forearm of it's left arm, what looked like a blade armament came out.

Lucifer started going on the defensive by backing up and firing it's machine gun but even with the most advanced FSC on the market, Lucifer just couldn't keep up with the incredibly fast movement of the Enemy Ac. It appeared only as a blur of silver and red steel being propelled by white and blue flaming exhaust. First it rammed Lucifer in the air back then pointed forward it's right arm gun and fired a bolt of energy at Lucifer's head piece shooting it clean off. Lucifer, now headless fell to the ground hard.

The Enemy Ac, while still hovering in the air, swung up the extension units on the Ac, pointed them at Lucifer and opened up into what looked like a single barrel expanding into a tri pod. Each individual section then started to glow a crimson light. Then the dual back weapon separated from the Ac and elevated around it. The eight detached spears then started glowing a bright green. Then it pointed its right arm weapon forward and fired an enormous barrage of energy weaponry. It was a flurry of green, red, and blue energy that hammered Lucifer's armored body.

Lucifer folded its arms over its chest piece and then folded its legs up to add the protection but it didn't matter. The barrage continued relentlessly and turned Lucifer into a hill of blacken scorched steel and titanium-S armor.

Marcus growled but saw his chance. He boosted as hard as his beat up tank could go, realizing now that switching out the OB core for the EO core was the dumbest thing her could have done. Even still he charged forward with his Karasawa and Linear Cannon out and fired both in unison.

The Ac, while scanning the wreckage of it's latest victim, tumbled forward from the hit but retained it's ground, still in the air.

Marcus didn't care, he had to kill it now! He continue his own barrage of energy weapons fire treating deciding to alternate them to the point where it came out like auto weapon fire. Just beam after beam of energy hit the Enemy Ac. But it was like the Ac was frozen and it didn't even move. Once getting close enough, Marcus boosted up into the air, while still firing at the Ac actually causing damage, and then dropped on it. Goliath came down with the Ac under him hard on the ground nearly crushing it.

The Ac though suddenly erupted into a rage and jumped up throwing the hundred ton Ac on it's back.

Now he was screwed. He had no way to get back up and the other Ac was already on top of him. Literally! It laid on top of him, dropping it's right arm weapon and grabbing Goliath by the throat. Then reached back with its blade arm and ignited it. A dark black beam of energy erupted from the outlet ready to slice him in half.

Marcus cursed himself. He had gotten this far and it ends like this? Then he realized his Linear Cannon was still selected and pointing forward. Forward right toward the Enemy Ac's head piece. Marcus thought for only a second and hit a selection of buttons which caused the generator to pump out all of its energy in one wave, straight into the Linear Cannon. Every joint and mechanism in the Ac protested and squealed under the pressure but it worked and the Linear Cannon shot out a beam of energy that was five times the norm. The influx of energy razed the top section of the Ac's core and it's head unit leaving it completely lifeless.

Of course the attack took its toll. Goliath shuddered as the Linear Cannon exploded on it's back and all power to every function just cut itself off. Now stuck between the floor and the other Ac, Marcus had no choice but to abandon the dead Goliath. He popped open the cockpit barrier with the emergency escape lever and watched it soar into the air to harmlessly bounce off the ground. The lighting on the outside seemed bright to his eyes and he tried adjusting to it while escaping from his would-be steel coffin.

Today was definitely not a good day. He slapped his hand against his head in agitation but felt a spasm of pain race through his face. He pulled back his hand, after letting out a nice series of explicit words, and looked at the blood running down his hand. Now thinking about it, he could also feel the blood dripping down the side of his face. Now with the adrenaline decreasing throughout his system. More parts of his body were hurting. His entire body felt like one big callous.

He stood tall and proud though. Even against the odds, he was still victorious. Even if Laura had paid the price. Sad shame too. Because Marcus needed to know where that thing came from. Only then would his true mission begin. But with her death he might get nothing. Leos most likely wouldn't tell him anything other then, "It was an Enemy Ac."

"Shit." He said aloud. "Enemy Ac, my ass."

All of a sudden he heard something explode. At first he thought it was something under him, maybe the Ac he just destroyed. The advance technology involved with that Ac couldn't have been wielded properly by the minds of today but he was still alive. He looked around and saw a large object dropped nearby Laura's Ac. It was a cockpit capsule! They were used as a last resort to keep the pilot alive. It was supposed to stand even the heaviest assaults. Guess even from something that was hundreds of years ahead of it's time, the added protection of the rest of the Ac helped. It was a miracle. The next part though isn't.

Marcus dropped down from his Ac landed roughly onto the solid cold ground, grunting in response to the pain that shot through his body, and took off in a light jog up to the capsule. He got near it when one of the panels shot off into the air. And out came Laura, even though defeated mercilessly, standing tall and proud. Of course she looked the worse for wear. Blood was also running down her forehead but it was also running down her arms, and it seeped through the uniform she wore near both her stomach and her legs.

When she jumped down, Marcus saw the gash that ran down her backside as well. It was at least four inches long. How she survived is beyond him. Still…..

"Laura!" Marcus barked.

Laura twisted around even through the endless pain that ravaged her senses and gasped when she saw Marcus still alive.

"You're alive…..?" She said in a whisper.

Marcus pointed to the twisted mass of robots that looked like they were trying to get it on.

"They're busy at the moment." He joked, even though his voice was dead serious.

Laura looked at the mangled mess and just shook her head slightly, "Incredible. You were able to beat-"

That's when Marcus came and grabbed her by the neck and then slammed her into the wall of the capsule. Marcus could only guess the amount of pain that tore at her body at the moment. But he couldn't care less right now.

Laura gasped out in pain and for what little air she could get as Marcus started to tighten his grip. "What…..are-"

"Shut up." Marcus ordered. His old instincts started to come back and he was almost taking pleasure from how contorted by brutal pain her face was. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer me or I'm going to kill you."

Laura didn't respond.

Marcus squeezed tighter and yelled, "Got it!"

Laura nodded through the pain that her brain was trying so hard register.

Marcus grinned and then started assulting her with questions. When he got the answers he needed, he just dropped her whiter then usual body to the ground and turned to the side, folding his arms.

"I see."

Laura, almost gagging for air, looked up and yelled, "What the hell is you're problem! And why do you want to know so badly!"

Marcus looked at her from the corner of his eye and with a glint of what looked like evil, he replied, "I have my reasons. What I didn't know was that Earth was the Ark."

Laura looked at him wide eyed. "You know about-"

"I didn't realize that you Humans had gotten that far. Must have been those damned Controllers that were set up. How they knew though would still be a mystery however."

"How do you know about-"

"But I guess it would make sense. I am however very impressed with your little show of trying to control advance technology. Especially when it is technology nearly a thousand years ahead of your time."

Laura growled in pure fury and decided that the only way she would get answers from him would be the same way he did her. Though it didn't end that way. She charged him but he suddenly moved his large body faster then anything she had ever seen before. She then found her self pinned up against the wall again with one of his hands grabbing on her hair and the arm pinned against her neck.

"I take it you want to know how I know what I know." Marcus said slyly.

Laura nodded.

"Well…..Let's just say I'm one of them." Marcus grinned and blinked his eyes just to show her proof.

Laura gasped as she saw his pupils suddenly light up.

"Ether Energy! That means you're a-"

Snap

Laura's body fell limp and Marcus just tossed her to the ground lifeless. He looked at her dead body, still admiring her beauty even after death and then turned around. He approached the Ac that he had just fought and after climbing his own Ac, he popped open the sliding cockpit doors, and looked around through the darkness. He knew that, even though this would have helped his search out much more, this Ac was beyond repair. Even with his extension knowledge, it would be foolhardy. And since he had no equipment, nor any time to get the equipment, he had no choice but to self-destruct the Sub-Dimensional Ethereal Generator and make sure nothing is left. It will create quite the stir but he now knew what he needed to know.

Earth was the Ark all along. So that means, 'IT'S' here as well.

After programming the system to remote detonate, he quickly made haste. It would be a long run, but he would be able to do it.

It looked like the sun was rising out of the very earth itself. The near nuclear detonation of the core was easily enough to destroy, no more like vaporize everything within fifty miles of the center point.

And even though it was a waste, it would simply have to do. He couldn't allow it to exist in the hands of these disgusting creatures. Actually the fact that they were laying their dirty bloody hands on such wondrous technology churned his stomach to the core. These were pure technological masteries that they were defiling. He wouldn't allow it anymore. He had a basic idea of where the rest of it laid, but getting there would require the assist of many more Ravens. Damn good ones too.

Marcus turned on a dime and slid down the dune he was on. It was a good eighty miles back to Lost Haven and he didn't have anytime to waste.

He thought back to the beginning of this day. He was getting pissy because of how this mission was turning out. And now look, he almost has everything he needs to take back what rightfully belonged to him.


	3. 3

Chp. 3

A long time ago, around the time of the ancient world, there was a man known only by the name, Alexander the Great. This man was beyond all others in terms of combat and social continuity. At the time of his death he had conquered most of the known world and he was respected as a leader, a philosopher, and a general. His deeds exceeded many others in both splendor and grandeur.

And yet he died like the rest of humanity dies when their time is up. The reason for this correlation is not to say that someone of his lineage is raising up. Nor is it to say that the man that we now look over is like him, a soldier, a general.

But we follow him for his name. The reason people remember him is because, not only what he did, but of his name, Alexander the Great. The name Alexander is now usually connected to people of high merit or high praise or of the complete opposite.

The young man we follow now is another man chosen by the hands of fate to have his story told like the other Ravens that have been chosen. None of them realize that their every desire, every thought, and every move is being recorded and told to show the universe their adventures.

His name is Alexander Xavior Torrin. He just started being a Freelancer Raven at the young age of eighteen but considering that he was very new to the business he decided to get into contact with a Contact Freelancer. Basically the same thing as a Contact for Ravens, her job was to guide him in the right direction for jobs, safety, and anything that might keep him living for another day. However, he also choose her because she used to be a Raven herself, he thought he might be able to learn the hidden tricks of the trade. And she is willing to teach him. As long as he gets up off of his lazy ass.

Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzz Buzz

Turning to the side, Alex groaned as the alarm clock he set to ring at eight in the morning was going off at eight thirty and for the tenth time. He wondered at who in the world came up with an alarm clock that started howling every three minutes and then wondered if he could find him and brutally beat him within an inch of his life. Realizing the futility of that, he opted for the other choice.

He grabbed the alarm clock and flung it against the wall. The thing bounced off the wall undamaged and continued it's incessant ringing. Alex moaned in displeasure and just rolled over thinking he could shrug it off…..until the thing started ringing louder. Alex was inches away to finally going to sleep till it got louder and now he was getting a headache.

Unfortunately as much torment and pain that thing was causing him, he really didn't want to get out of that nice comfortable sofa that he claimed as his bed. Considering he had a very small apartment, it only had enough room for a sofa. This was supposed to be part of Kristi's training guide to 'How to become a better Raven in ninety days.' So far it only looked like, 'How to become a bitch ass penny pincher in no time.'

Finally after the ringing had hit it's peak, Alex realized that it was not going to stop out of shear sympathy for him. The thing was an emotionless robot bent on torturing him from getting the one thing that he prized more then life itself, sleep. So he decided on dropping his left hand to reach for any heavy and hard appliance he may have had laying on the floor for no explainable reason, and once upon finding it, he flung it as hard as his comatose-like body could at the moment. Which resulted in a little girly swing that pushed it about three inches, accompanied by a little girly squeal that resonated from Alex's throat.

The Alarm Clock was still ringing.

Alex used all of his effort to open one eye just enough to see the Alarm clock that rested on it's back on the floor in front of him and give it a glare that might silence it.

It kept ringing.

"Damn you!" Alex cried out in his young vigor filled voice. Of course it seemed more like a muffled plea for help under the mountain of clothes, blankets and god only knows what else rested on top of him. He then focused his entire mind and body on the object and pictured himself jumping up into the air while grabbing a heavy blunt object, and going Donkey Kong on his oppressor's ass.

Of course this never happened and the thing just kept ringing actually gaining another level of loudness.

It's like the damned thing actually hates him. Like it just wanted to reach out and strangle him with its never-ending rivers of buzzing that just poured down on him and flooded his ears with its infuriating jingle. He couldn't take it, he'd lose it if he didn't do anything.

He thought about getting up and then starting chuckling knowing that wasn't going to happen till at least twelve in the afternoon. Then he thought about something else to throw at it but realized that the only object that might work was an inch away from his hand and he already ascertained that he wasn't getting up for nothing. He then realized that any idea he could come up with would end in failure due to the mere fact that he would actually have to get up and move his body. His mind was saying 'You wish' and his body was agreeing. He wasn't moving. Like a boulder on a cliff edge, he laid looking at the clock continue with it's horrid screams of throbbing irritation.

Maybe he could use his psychic powers to silence the thing. Yes that was it! That was the solution! But then his brain said, 'You wish you had psychic powers and even if you did, laziness is becoming the biggest problem for you right now.'

Alas, Alex's brain was right! His laziness was the biggest foe. The Damned Clock of Eternal Agony and Torment wasn't his biggest foe! It was himself. He himself needed to change in order to get moving in the world. Maybe then he would be able to gain the energy needed to turn the damn clock off and go back to sleep! No. He would surpass even that! He would get up and do the drills that Kristi had instructed him to do. Then he would become a better pilot, have lots of money, and get it going with lots of beautiful woman. Then Kristi herself would come in and say, "I need you," and Alex would reply, "I know," and they would become one in the wondrous connection called intercourse…….

This all, of course, would be accomplished if he would get up. And while his mind was laughing at him for the absurdity of his dream, he knew, his mind knew, and his body knew, he wasn't going to get up even if the world was ending around him. Maybe if a girl in a bikini came in he would get up. Better yet, maybe a naked Asian…..OH! With a Hispanic heritage so she would be look Asian but have that rich golden tan. Uh oh. Mr. Happy's up. Damn it, now he had to get up. Stuck with a boner and under a mountain of clothes, with a resoundingly painful headache and that DAMNED THING WAS STILL RINGING, it wouldn't be long till he would go crazy.

Then all of a sudden, the ringing stopped. Alex's eyes busted open welling up with tears. Did it run out of juice? Did it find compassion in its cold metallic netlike matrix and turn off just for him? Oh my god…..there is a GOD!

And that's when he saw a shadow moving through his room and realized that it could only be one person.

"Shit! Kristie wait!" All he felt was the weightless of Zero Gravity as he felt the comfy sofa he was used to being flung up in the air. All he saw was clothes just fly around everywhere, blankets jumping for cover, and a box of half eaten pizza fleeing to the ground… Wait half eaten pizza! Pizza! Alex recovered it in mid-air then landed flat on his back just as the sofa landed on it's back as well. Pain coursed through his body like a tidal wave as for a moment he hated his life. But realizing the pizza was still in his hand he would endure. Until the Human-Plus Ex-Raven's Nest pilot, Kristi Archverress snatched the pizza from him and just gave him the smuggest look anyone could have gotten.

"God you are the lamest ass in the whole damned solar system." She said, her voice piercing and strong. For a twenty-two year old woman with more then four years of experience at being a Raven, and being a tough instructor, she was hot. She was tall, with a milky white complexion, short dark brown hair with dark brown eyes. She had long slender legs that her black and blue Raven's Nest Uniform hugged so nicely. The top was unzipped and she wasn't wearing a bra, but the damned top was still covering up most of it. All Alex got was a nice snapshot as some sexy cleavage. Which he didn't mind but he would rather have the whole present with no wrapping of course.

Kristi caught on that he had noticed and snapped, "You looking hard enough? Or did you forget something?"

Alex looked at her for a moment then remembered; she had his pizza! Alex lunged up in the air and dive bombed her while pinning her against the ground with his pizza in hand.

"My pizza!" He cried out in victory.

"Oh I'm so sorry Alex. Could you ever forgive me!" Kristi was heard shouting from under him.

Alex swept her from off the ground and held he closely, "Yes of course, I will always forgive."

….sad shame it didn't go like that. It was too early in the morning for something like that. Instead, Alex was seen hugging Kristi's leg begging for the pizza back. "Don't take away my only pleasure in life! Please! I beg of you!" He was pretty much in tears.

Kristi groaned in disgust and decided to let the poor bastard get his pizza. Besides god only knows how old it was. It was most likely collecting a new virus because of how long it had been in there. And yet Alex was on top of it like a ravenous beast that hadn't ate anything for months at a time. All she heard was crunching and the inhaling of food. After a while it was gone, even the damned box and Alex was just laying on his back rubbing his tummy.

Kristi just couldn't understand where it all went. Alex was a young eighteen year old Hispanic who barely weighed a hundred and eighty pounds. And he wasn't a chubby hundred and eighty. He was well-built for someone his age, with a slim long body that carried he natural tan evenly all over. His short rich black hair, though right now it was tossed every which way and the other, would soon be styled into a gelled up spikes that run backwards with two black bangs in the front. His eyes were also just as black. She always felt like she was staring into a deep never-ending void whenever she looked into his eyes.

Suddenly Alex flipped up and shouted, "I'm still hungry!"

Kristi sighed and rubbed her face, "We'll get breakfast."

"Sweet!" Alex jumped up.

"After morning exercises!"

"No!" Alex fell back down.

This was ridiculous. How anybody was able to keep up with her was just beyond Alex. She was like a frigging machine, like the damned energizer bunny going at full steam or charge or whatever the hell that she ran on.

First it was one hundred laps around the damned base that they lived at. Well, more like where she lived at and Alex just happened to stay at one of the apartment complexes that rested in thus said base. This is where he was renting a little complex with pretty much no money considering the fact that he had only accepted two missions since he became a Raven. It had been two months since then and still she wouldn't let him do any of the better paying missions. Apparently she had it fixed into her noggin that he sucked beyond everything and he needed massive help and training. Which he didn't mind you, if it wasn't so damn early in the morning!

It was only eleven and he had already done three hundred push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, four hundred jumping jacks, the hundred laps that was stated earlier including fifty hundred meter sprints one after another at max speed, and then a nice half an hour at holding your legs up six inches off the ground while laying back. This wasn't training, this was fucking torture. And now she wanted him to do some school work. He thought school ended by the age of eighteen and that was it. Obviously not to her.

"Alex! Wake up!" Kristi shouted at the top of her lungs.

Alex, now in gray sweats and a gray sleeve-less t-shirt, stumbled backward out of his seat and hit the ground pretty much slamming his head against it. Now in more physical pain then before and about to blackout, he looked up in a daze and barely got out, "Wha?"

Kristi looked at him over the seat at Alex's favorite restaurant, the Ramen noodle shop, located in one of the more quieter slums on base. Well it wasn't really a shop; it was more like a little walk-in with a long counter and four chairs. Then behind the counter were an old man who was cooking the Ramen with some mad skills and a young Asian looking girl that was like the sole server.

"Man you are disgraceful." She shook her head and then reached over and with one hand lifted Alex up and put him in his seat. That was one thing about her, she was unusually strong for someone so femine looking.

"Listen. You don't just need a physically strong body to pilot an Ac. You also need to know everything about your Ac. Like?"

Alex sighed and phrased as he had done so many times before, "Extensions, Inside parts, Right Arm Parts, Left Arm parts, Core; one type Exceed Orbit with counter attacking capabilities and the other type Over Boost with some serious speed capabilities. Then we have arms, left and right shoulder weapons, generators, radiators, head parts and legs. Did I miss anything?"

Kristi nodded glad that some of what she was teaching actually sunk in. "Yes you did, the new line of parts. Leg Extensions and dual-arm hand helds. Now even though you got that one wrong, you still get one bowl of Ramen."

Alex's eyes lit up with passion, as a bowl of hot boiling Ramen was set right in front of him. Immediately and not caring how hot the heat was, he took down the Ramen like it was juice. Then he extended his bowl in hand to the server and yipped, "More!"

Kristi hit Alex upside the head and shouted, "NO! You only get one per question!"

Alex rubbed the sore spot on his head and as Kristi turned to eat some of her Ramen, stuck his tongue out at her.

And with lighting fast reflexes, she used the chopsticks that she hadn't even touched yet to snagged his tongue. Then pulling on it hard and bringing him closer to her, she growled with a menacing intent, "You got a problem with the way I teach?"

Alex opted, tongue still stuck, "Would I get in trouwble if I said yes?"

Kristi squeezed his tongue even harder.

Alex barely got out, "Sorwy!"

She let go of him and then tossed the chopsticks into a nearby bin. Then grabbing another one, she started to eat her Ramen. Alex grumbled and looked at the server who was almost in tears from stifled laughter.

Alex grinned and said, "See Mika? This is what I go through everyday. Just plain and total torture."

Mika smiled, "Hai! Maybe you shouldn't be so reckless and naughty."

Alex's grin broadened, "Nah that's not it. She's just too strict."

Kristi shot in after finishing her Ramen, "You haven't seen strict."

Alex glared at her and yelled unnecessarily, "What are you smoking? This is the kind of stuff super humans do! I'm not super human! I'm barely human!"

Kristi nodded and with a grin, "Yeah, you barely get up to that level considering how lazy you are."

Alex scowled, knowing that he had fell right into that one, and Mika just giggled.

Mika had always enjoyed it when they came around whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They always acted like they were couples, arguing and the sort.

Mika then turned to her Grandpa, as he was busy cooking, "Grandpapa!"

He turned around eyes closed but still knowing what he was doing, "Yo?"

"Make much Ramen today." She smiled at Alex as now he and Kristi were pretty much wrestling with Kristi winning. "It looks like today will be long and pleasant."

"Yo!" He responded cheerfully.

Then placing her small elbows on the counter and brushing back her silky black hair, Mika entered a state of daydreaming, wondering what had happened to the other customer that usually came here with Alex. It had to have been about four years ago since the last she had saw them together. For some reason she couldn't remember his name but she remembered his face. It was so hardened and strict for someone so young. They were only around fourteen at the time and they were always talking about how they were piloting Acs. Well more like Alex was talking about it. The other boy was always silent. There was also another girl with them that Mika had thought at one point to be Alex's sweetheart. If memory served her right, she was related to the other boy. Where had they gone? Every time Mika asked Alex, he had always said, "Don't worry about them, they went their own path."

But the way he said it, it was always filled with pain. She had spent many a nights wondering about it.

"Uncle!"

Mika shook her head and then peered over the counter and nearly had a laughing fit.

"I called Uncle!" Alex screamed as Kristi sat on him with both of his arms under her butt. She only had one hand on his neck, while she was busy inspecting the nails on the other hand when she said, "What was that?"

"Uncle!" Alex yelled louder trying to get out from under her butt, even if it was soft and cushiony. Still her weight alone was enough to cause pain to rip through his backside. Then he decided, well more like slipped out, to say uncle in a more heartless manner.

"I said Uncle! Now get off of me you fat bitch!" Alex tried so hard to catch himself before he had said it and realized he was screwed as Kristi's head started twitching with a demonic intent.

"What did you just say?" Kristi clutched his throat a little harder and proceeded to beat the crap out of him.

After five full minutes of beat-downs, Kristi continued to consume her ramen elegantly while Alex couldn't even get his hand stable enough to eat his. Pretty much beaten to a blue and black pulp he realized that a woman's wrath is one thing that he needs to figure out how to get away from and never incur.

"Hey Alex?" Kristi said while finishing her ramen.

Alex flinched and tried to shield himself from anymore pain, "I didn't say anything! I swear it!"

Kristi grinned deviously and said, "No that's not it." She then bowed in gratitude to Mika for the meal and placed her card on the table. Mika grabbed the card and pulled out a little scanner and placed the card in the scanner. This was the formal currency of the world. Credit. Not as in someone pays you and I pay him or her later. It was the same thing as in the old cash system except these were called credits. It was universal for every purchase around. And with the cards, it added more freedom then carrying a wad of bills everywhere. The thing was that everything was electronic and it was connected to your account so however much money was in the account would be on the card and it was only one card. It was even redundant with a system that would allow you, even if you lose your card, to shut off that card making it void and impossible to use, and get a new one with no problems.

Of course it still had faults as hackers spend day and night trying to figure out new ways to get into those little babies but it got harder and harder with time. The most recent security feature was fingerprint scan and voice recognition. If the thumb was not the one recorded by the card it notifies the company that supplies these nifty things, Bicentennial Enterprises, and then shuts off. Same thing with the voice recognition, it just analyzes the users voice and after a brief period of set protocols, if something is amiss, the card itself will beep and initiate a countdown for the fingerprint. That's when it will either shut off or just go back to normal use mode. Either way, it's still a really good thing to have in this age of currency.

"Twenty-four credits." Mika gave back the card to Kristi and nodded, "Anything else?"

Kristi shook her head and then turned to Alex, "I arranged an Arena Match for you."

Alex suddenly found himself not in any pain at all when he heard those words.

"Are you serious!" He found himself jumping out of his seat staring at Kristi wide-eyed.

Kristi turned away for a moment while saying, "I didn't want to really, but I have this friend of mines who wants to see what you are capable of. I've been telling him about how much potential you have, if only you weren't so lazy."

Alex rose an eyebrow, "What friend?"

Kristi then grinned again while looking at him from the corner of her eye, "Oh you'll see. It's nothing special, just a good friend."

Alex thought about it for only a moment and said, "Cool, then I accept."

"Of course you would. You don't have much of a choice me being your contact." Of course this never made it into Alex's ears. He was already out of the Ramen shop and halfway down the street when he starting waving back and yelling out, "Move it or lose it grandma!"

Under normal circumstances, that would have infuriated Kristi, but at the moment she could only admire his youthful energy to do combat in Ac's. He truly did love Ac's, even if he was fighting with them. Guess it was the thrill of combat that everyone gets into. Of course that usually leads to trouble and disorder. Maybe he will be different.

Mika then stuck her head out so she could see Alex down the street, "Sayonara, Alex-san! And good luck!"

Alex waved back at her as Kristi started on her way. For sure, Alex was stoked. This was going to be his first Arena match ever since he had gotten his Freelancer license and it was bound to be great. Just wait; this was his first step to becoming the greatest pilot in the world!

Alex was a proud person; both in nature and in attitude. And everything he did pretty much tied into his idealism that he set for himself. The way he saw things was a pretty radical view on the world. Do unto others, that which you would want done unto you. Not that he was a religious person. Far from it. In fact he was an atheist. He believe that religion was the reason that too many people died, even nowadays. All of the Raven groups on Mars bounded themselves by some type of code of religious prestige or adhered to a certain way of life that seemed saintly in nature. It always aggravated Alex to no end because they always seemed to think that they were better then others just by some godly overlook.

But he didn't want to think that this life that he had been granted was the only life out there. He wanted to see more, try to find the lost piece of humanity that some many people have seemed to have traded off to the devil. He just couldn't sit still while other people got hurt even if he didn't want to get involved. This was the kind of thing that caused him to get into so much trouble sometimes. He also wanted to prove to himself something; that his worth in this world isn't just some price tag or some type of modern day commodity. He wanted to see just how far he could push himself before he could break the limit. He wanted to see just how good he was and show others in the world that he was that good. Call it ego, call it a hunger for power. For him, it was just a race against himself to see just what he was made of; a true test of his mettle.

Even still, he wasn't without his faults as well. He left most matters to other people and only dealt with stuff that affected him. You could say that he wasn't any better but he knew that he couldn't do anything about it. Of course he saw the dirtiest and most horrid people that were part of the web of humanity and even worked for them at some point. But he always wanted to keep an eye out for those less fortunate. He had been one of them just before he had become an Ac pilot. The least he could do is right some of the wrongs that have been oppressed on him and others so much before. Or at least try to. Maybe he was out of his league. Or maybe he was out of his mind. Which is why he enjoyed the more neutral position. Of course, past events lead him not to forget the pain that many people feel all the time.

"Alex!" Kristi shouted from below him, knocking him out of his little daydreaming.

Alex shook his head and looked down from the open cockpit and saw Kristi still standing in front of the Repair and Arming Console. He looked around and remembered where he was at. He was sitting in the South Archos Base garage, situated on Earth, tuning up the only pride and joy left in his life, save for food, drinks and women. His Ac, Gunner Mark I, was just about the only thing that he truly enjoyed being with, even if it wasn't alive or just a machine. He felt truly at peace when he was in an Ac. Better yet was the fact that he had created this from his own sweat and money. Some of the parts were out of date, almost predating that of the Silent Line Era. Still, it handled well for something so old, and the parts where relatively cheap. It could go toe to toe against some of the more advanced Acs. But against those that were the top of the line, like most of the SA, S, A, B, and upper C class Ravens were just way beyond him. The best he could go, according to his own calculations, was beating the Sub-Arena's on both Mars and Earth, then excelling at F, E, and D classes on Earth, and F, E, D, and some of the lower C class Ravens on Mars.

The reasoning behind this was that Earth held more corporations and some of the more stronger ones as well and they pumped out more advanced parts all the time. Earth had Chrome, which excelled at every facet of Ac design period, then Mirage, which was even bigger and badder, then Crest which was as good as Chrome, then Kisaragi who had some the more interesting parts which still ran at some incredible paces. And then after that there was Solaris Enterprises, which at first wasn't that big but now people think they might be the another Mirage. They pump out specialized parts that are borderline outlawed due to the destructive firepower they carry or the devious advantage that they can give. In fact, they were the ones that put out the new categories of parts into play, the dual-hand arm weapons, the new line of extensions that can cooperate with other weapon systems on you other then just missiles. As well as the new line of leg extensions that can range from some serious counter-acting defense systems, more missile extensions, more extra ammo cartridges, and a new revolutionary Stealth system that have already been outlawed in the Arena. If fact, this system is so powerful that it cannot be sold commercially. It has to be done out of the range of the Law, which is easy nowadays considering that all of the five space colonies that orbit around the Earth, the Moon, and Mars, are out of the jurisdiction of the Space Police Forces.

Even still that new system is something to drool over. It's the first active camouflage ever created. It bends light around an Ac for a set period of time making it damn near invisible. For a full ten seconds the enemy can barely even see you, let alone hit you. Of course, it takes up some serious weight and the leg extensions as well as the shoulder extensions.

Anyway, going back to the whole ranking deal, since Mars only has three Corporations, Zio Matrix, Bicentennial Enterprises, and Mt Empire, they are lacking in terms of special and newer age parts then Earth is. This of course causes a lot of problems since Mirage, Crest, and Chrome all want a piece of Mars for it's more abundant resources. But Zio-Matrix and the other two Corps aren't push-overs.

But other then that, they are losing in the race for strength.

"Alex." It was Kristi again. This time she was standing in front of the open cockpit with her arms crossed. Her expression was a mixture of annoyance and worry. "You alright?"

Alex looked at her for a full thirty seconds before he shook his head again and said, "Sorry, just daydreaming again."

Kristi shook her head and complained while watching Alex play with his newly formed bangs, "I do not understand how you can just daydream all the time. What is it you think about it?"

Alex chuckled, while still playing with his bangs, and replied, "Stuff. Just stuff." Alex suddenly stopped fooling around with his hair and looked up at a console of switches with a light above each of them. This was the switchboard for the primary parts. Everything was green save for the Fire Control System. Alex groaned and then said to Kristi while flicking the light hoping it would go to green, "The damned FCS is fucked up again."

Kristi looked at a pad she had on her waist and then said, "Well isn't it four years old dating before to Silent Line." She flipped it up and tapped a series of buttons, "Or maybe it's just messed up. It's one of the new MF04-COWRYs. That's odd that it doesn't work that well."

Alex suddenly looked a little guilty.

Kristi shot him a nasty look and asked, "What did you do to it?"

"Eh, I tired to tweak it a little."

"You did what!" Kristi couldn't believe he tried that. Slapping her hand on her face, she snapped, "All FCS have a damn fail-safe against that shit. If you try to mess with it, it will just shut off!"

Alex had the infamous 'Oh shit' look on his face.

Kristi looked at him through her fingers and said, "You do realize that that was the only FCS system you had right?"

Alex's eyes then got really wide and the tan color in his skin started to drain away.

"And you don't have enough credits to get another one. You remember, it cost you forty-three thousand to get that one, and that was because it was on sale."

Alex then fell out back into his seat and started flopping around lie a limp fish.

"Yeah, you're screwed." Kristi said slapping her hands on her hips. "Guess we'll have to call off the match."

Alex then at that moment, snapped up like an arrow. He looked like he had an idea. And Kristi knew, his ideas were nothing but trouble.

How on Earth he knew how to do what he did was beyond her. Kristi had sat there and watched Alex trick the Ac into thinking that the FCS was still there and still in working order. The way his fingers had danced through the forest of wires and components was almost to the level of Mastery. But he has only been a Raven for two months, how did he have such skill so early? Unless there was something he wasn't telling her.

Taking a seat in a special room that overlooked the Arena, she looked at the information on Alex's opponent. She knew him to an intimate level, they once knew each other very well. Of course it was one of those oddball relationships. He was over sixty years old; over forty of those years he has been a Raven. He at one point was one of the best pilots around, the top of his league and a brilliant pilot. In terms of facts and statistics, he would shred Alex. But there was something she wanted to see.

"Hey Kristi!" A cheerful female voice called from behind.

Kristi suddenly shuddered and cringed in fear. She knew who that was. And she couldn't stand her because she was-

From behind, two arms came in and wrapped Kristi's torso. "Oh I've missed you!" Then the woman came in and pecked Kristi's check with a kiss.

Gay, "Get off me damnit!" And she was her old Contact for Raven's Nest. Even though she was twelve years her senior, Sasha Evengal was still one of the most gorgeous women she had seen, even if she was gay and a very respected individual. She had long silky black hair that came down past her shoulders, a slightly tanned complexion and deep blue eyes that could mesmerize anybody. Her body was well formed, but it was her long legs that attracted a lot of attention. That and she was a very experienced Raven, and with the Human-Plus thrown in, she was very capable of defending herself.

Sasha smothered Kristi with kisses till she was pretty much on the floor and that's when Kristi used her abnormal strength to try to throw her off but seeing as she was also an Ex-Raven from Raven's Nest, as well as a Human Plus, she could barely budge her.

"Did you forget?" Sasha smiled as she leaned close to Kristi's face, "I'm just like you."

Kristi looked to the side and scoffed, "No. I didn't forget. But we are not similar. You're gay, I'm not, simple as that."

Sasha moaned lightly and said, "But Little Krwisti-"

Kristi suddenly snapped, "I hate that name! Stop calling me that!"

Sasha burst into laughter and get up.

Kristi finally pushed herself up and after wiping her pants she looked at Sasha and asked, "So you're still the Contact for him?"

Sasha finally calmed herself down and said, "Oh you mean Ace? Yeah. He may be a man, but he is a very nice person."

"You've been his contact for how long now?" Kristi asked as she took her seat again.

Sasha sat down crossing her legs and mentioned, "For about six years now."

Kristi looked at her accusingly, "Thought you couldn't stand men even for a moment?"

Sasha returned the look with more of a sensual flare to it, "He's different."

"Yeah, ok." Kristi said while looking out to the middle of the Arena, both Alex and Ace where out there. "Oh he knows now."

"Knows what?" Sasha said looking at Ace's middleweight Ac. As a Raven, she could only marvel at how it was so well put together.

"That my Alex is fighting against your Ace." She said with the up-most confidence. Suddenly her cell phone started ringing.

"You mean you didn't tell him that he was going to be the last fighter that the Legendary Ace fights against for all the world to see just before he retires?" Sasha inquired.

Kristi nodded and answered her phone, "Hello?"

Guess who it was? "What the hell is your problem? I can't fight this guy! This guy is a beast! He'll own me!"

"Ah don't worry about it. You'll be fine." And with that she hung up the phone. Truth was that she didn't' know how this would turn out. Ace was incredible, Alex…..well, Alex was just lazy. Still, she sensed something different about Alex from any other Raven. Maybe it will come up in this match.

With the Arena filled to capacity, and members of every corporation, as well as Raven Groups now in their seats to watch the Final Fight of Ace, there was nothing but an air of excitement. For the Corporations, this was a chance to see new blood. For the Ravens, new recruits. For the rest? Just a good time. Of course there was one individual who was standing at the very top of the Arena who was watching for more then just a good time or new blood. He had came to see the Legend himself in Action, to see if he could get him into his cause just one time. To see if he could help him gain the object that he has been after for so long.

Well, and to have a good time. The guy that Ace was going up against has only been a Raven for two whole months.

Marcus scoffed at the fact that this nobody was fighting a Legend. "Damn this is going to end poorly. It will be funny though."

"Great, I get to fight against the man himself, Ace." Alex rolled his eyes as he checked his ammo for the tenth time, "Yippee."

Rechecking his array of weapons, the HALBERD, the MG-500, his back weapons, the GNS-15, the HA-30/4, and the multi-directional boosters, he knew that he couldn't get anymore ready. Gunner's body was the Hadro arms, the LW legs, the Ray core, and the Skyeye. He had the defense, and the weapons, it just requires the skills now. And Alex wasn't that sure if he had all the skills required to beat him.

And if that wasn't the worst of it, his FCS doesn't work so he would have to manually aim. That meant that his missiles wouldn't lock and with the fail-safe, they wouldn't fire. Alex had to find a way to get rid of that fail-safe because he could already tell that he would need those missiles, even if they just fire as rockets.

Suddenly his comms started acting up. He tapped the button and saw the aged face of Ace himself.

"Lets have a good match."

Alex couldn't help but grin, "Yeah, good match."

After that, Ace closed the comms and the lights at the top of the Arena went from red to green. Ace immediately charged forward with the crowd cheering him on.

"Shit!" Alex screamed like a little girl as he boosted hard to the side and barely dodged Ace slashing with his Moonlight. "Ahh!" Alex then dashed back while firing a few pot-shots with the Machine Gun.

Ace easily dodged them and charged forward again, this time with OverBoost while flushing most of his remaining energy in the Moonlight Laser Blade. This was one of his favored ending attacks. Pretty much a one shot kill.

"It's over." Sasha said, pretty much getting up out of her seat already.

Kristi just smiled.

"This is going to be so damned close!" Alex squealed as he hit the brakes hard and just let the Ac fall backwards.

Ace came in with the slash but didn't realize what was happening at the time. When he did, he couldn't believe his eyes.

The clear-blue energy of the blade whooshed right past Gunner's line of vision as it looked like it was trying to limbo.

"Now!" Alex activated his boosters just before he hit the ground and came back up against a defenseless Ace and lashed out with his Halberd.

Ace's Ac tried to move but the blade was incredibly long and it singed Ace's torso. He dashed back to a safe distance and checked his armor. It was only about a hundred point decrease, but that was the first time that anybody had ever done that! Let alone dodge his finisher!

The entire Arena was speechless. Everyone, even Sasha and Kristi. Kristi knew that this was going to turn out differently then what everyone had expected, but not like this.

Even Marcus was stunned beyond belief. He had never seen anyone do something like that. It was just incredible.

Alex, even though his Ac had done all the work, was tired already. He had put in a lot of effort just to get his Ac to move like that and time it right. But now that Ace was caught off guard, it was his turn to attack.

He activated the OverBoost and went straight for the offensive.

Ace got defensive and raised his MG-1000, sending a flurry of hot pellet rounds forward.

Alex though wasn't some bum at dodging either; he slanted to the left then jumped up and to the right moving too fast for the FCS with the Machine Gun to keep up. Ace was astonished that a Raven of just two months could move so fast and fight so well. This was what he had envisioned for his last match, the greatest match ever in the world was now his.

Just as Alex had gotten close enough Ace charged forward with blinding speed with his blade ignited but Alex had already shut off his OverBoost and then activated his own extension boosters to boost him back just enough to dodge Ace's swing. Ace couldn't believe this, he had timed it to the millisecond!

Alex charged forward with his Halberd and with a battle cry that seemed to echo from the Ac itself, sliced Ace's midsection then he dashed forward again and shoulder rushed him while firing his Machine Gun. Then after pushing him back enough, he switched to his High Act Missile launcher and fired four missiles straight forward.

Ace however was not going to take that. He activated his decoys and watched the seemingly aimless missiles hit the decoy and explode nearly in front of his face.

Then he waited for the smoke to clear up while his blade was activated. He knew this tactic all too well. This was a very favored tactic for bladers.

But what he expected and what he received was much different. Instead he got a high power grenade to his face. Aces cried out as he felt the shock shudder his Ac and tried to get away before the second blast but it came way too fast and nearly flatten him. Ace then tried to dash off the ground but watched Alex's Ac Gunner come in and just straight gunning him down with a rotating combo of missiles and machine gun fire.

Now enraged, Ace charged forward, ignoring the weapons fire peckering his Ac with holes and melted metal. He rammed Alex knocking him off balance and then charged forward with his own OverBoost. By the time he reached Alex, Alex tried to dodge but couldn't as Ace focused his blade in front of him like a spear.

"No." Alex groaned as he tried to force the Ac to move. The blade was aimed right at his cockpit!

Everything seemed to slow down, as Marcus watched over, impressed at how the other pilot performed but knowing the outcome, it only looked like an act of desperation. And now that he had angered Ace, who was notorious for his untamed anger in battle, it would end for him. A sad shame. Marcus turned away and was about to walk over to Ace's Garage when his eyes flared. Suddenly, surprised, he spun around just to see the end of the match. Ace had forced the blade straight through the weaker torso of Gunner. The insides of Gunner were fused the moment the blade razed through the protective armor and it just merely sputtered as the generator died right that second.

The entire Arena gasped at once as they saw the energy blade protrude the other side.

Sasha was caught completely off guard as Kristi was struck with horror. Did Ace just kill Alex? Immediately, she turned around to two men in suits that were required to aid the Contacts during a Arena match and she screamed, "Get an ambulance down there now!"

Both men froze for only a second and suddenly bolted while yelling out orders through their miniature headsets they each wore.

Ace gripped Gunner as it fell to one knee, preventing it from falling backwards. He deactivated his blade and shut off the combat mode then flinging open the cockpit doors, he jumped to the other Ac. He found Gunner's cockpit and found the lower half completely seared through by his Moonlight blade. He cursed himself to doing this. This was all his fault, if he just hadn't gotten angry then this wouldn't have happened. But he had wanted to win this last match so badly and it was just so good.

Suddenly, sirens were heard, their blaring noise and lights increasing as they got closer. It didn't matter though. Ace knew this. He already killed the pilot.

Marcus looked on. Something had happened. Something very odd and very different. His eyes had reacted to something in the air. Something unnatural. It could have been the fact that he was so close to the Ark. His own Ethereal powers could have reacted with that. Or maybe it was somebody.

He looked at the corpse of the other Ac and knew right then that the pilot had indeed survived. How he had survived was beyond him. But as he looked closer to the Ac labeled Gunner, he saw that the point at where the blade had struck the core was directly under the cockpit. It still left enough area for the pilot to move himself out the way. That's probably what had happened. How it happened was most likely an act of God.

"God?" Marcus said to himself, "Damn, I have been here too long."


	4. 4

Chp. 4

"I have never seen someone eat so much Ramen in just one day." Spoke the aged George Silentos. He was the residential doctor on the southern section of the Archos Base. He was also Alex personal doctor as well as a people doctor. Speaking of Alex, yes he had survive with only a bump on his forehead but he was still admitted to the South Archos Medical Hospital. And he was rushed straight to the care of his favorite doctor. They have known each other for many many years.

Standing in one of the more simpler rooms that rested on the west wing of the hospital, George turned from Alex to Kristi and said, "The guy has a clean bill of health. I'm surprised that he isn't dead though. The heat alone should have been enough to kill him."

Kristi laughed quietly and replied, "Yeah I know. But what can I say but he's not human."

George laughed wholeheartedly and then turned to Alex. He watched him for a moment going through his tenth bowl of steaming Ramen and asked, "Alex how did you survived that anyways?"

Alex looked up for a moment with his mouth full of Ramen and tried to talk but only got food-filled mumbles.

George placed his hand on his face and said, "Please Alex, have some manners."

Alex nodded and mumbled out, "Okay." Then he swallowed the mouthful of Ramen in one gulp.

George just stared at him while Kristi nearly gagged.

"Do you even chew?" Asked George incredulously.

Alex shook his head, "Only when I'm not that hungry."

George gave up. He would never understand where it all went or how he took it down like that.

Alex started laughing aloud then said, "Hey, you want to know how I came out with only this bump on my forehead, right?" He pointed to the bandage that George had just put on there only moments ago and continued, "Well, when Ace came all pissy at me, I pretty much freaked. But even though I knew that I had lost I didn't want to die. So I got my Ac to jump up just enough so the blade would strike the lower part of the Ac. After that, I just flipped out of my seat and clung to the ceiling as best as I could. Afterwards though I fell and hit my head on the front panel. Go figure, I didn't get hurt by the attack but I got hurt by my own hand."

Both of them looked at him like he had lost his mind. Kristi was the first to speak though, "What about the heat? Wasn't it hot?"

Alex exploded, "Hell fucking yeah it was hot! What do you think it was, an igloo!"

Kristi glared at him and merely replied, "Don't get snippy with me. I am your contact by the way. I can arrange your death without you even knowing."

Alex suddenly came in and said, "Good for you to say that. I'll be looking for that in the future."

Suddenly, a voice was heard from outside the room. It sounded like a little girl catching the attention of a lot of people outside, of course for all the wrong reasons.

"Hai! Get off! I must see Alex-san!"

"No you can't go in there!"

"Yes, the Doctor is seeing him right now!"

"Hai!"

Somebody's body the hit the wall.

"Stop her!"

"Get her!"

"Hai!" Two more thumps slammed into the wall and caused some objects on the countertop to fall off and break against the floor.

Alex looked at Kristi and Kristi was mesmerized by the sounds from outside.

"Get the guards!"

"Hurry sedate her!"

"HAI!"

This time it was about five bodies hitting the wall.

Alex decided that before he was next that he should leave. So he quickly rolled out of the bed and started for the window looking over the parking lot. Sure it was a five-story drop, but anything was better then-

"HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!" If Alex counted correctly, that time it was nine bodies. That is some serious kill count.

"Oh my god!"

"Brian! Why Brian?"

"We can't stop her!"

"Bring in the MPs!"

"HAI!"

"No! Oh god!"

"Help! Somebody please help!"

Suddenly the door exploded off of it's hinges and there standing was a very visibly pissed off Mika. Kristi and George just looked at her flabbergast.

"Where?" She barked with a ravenous look on her face.

Both of them pointed at Alex who was halfway out of the window.

"ALEX-SAN!" Mika cried out as she rushed over to Alex and yanked him out the window. Then she proceeded to shake him viciously as she bombarded him with questions, "Are you okay? Are you alright! You're still alive right! Yes! You are! Did that man hurt you? Did he? So help him if he did! Alex! Alex!"

Alex started to turn green as Mika continued to shake him more and more.

"OH MY GOD! HE'S DEAD!" Mika screamed out in horror.

Kristi interjected, "Yeah, well you killed him."

Mika turned around rivers of tears running down her face.

George let out a small cough and added, "Yes, I doubt any human being could survive the shaking you gave him. His brains are most likely mash potatoes right about now."

Mika suddenly started to bawl, screaming, "No! Alex-san can't be dead!" Then she started to squeeze him very tightly, constricting every possible movement that his body could make.

Still, he was able to tap her on the shoulder.

Mika snapped to and cried out, "Alex-san!"

Alex barely got out, "Air……"

"Oh!" Mika then dropped him to the floor.

Alex finally got the strength to get up and saw, "Wassup."

Mika looked at him for a moment then started bawling again and jumped into his arms, "I though you were dead!"

Alex hugged her softly and said, "Bah! I'm not that easy to kill off."

Kristi scoffed at that comment and asked Mika, "You didn't know he was alright? No body said that he was dead."

Mika turned to Kristi after drying her eyes and said, "Grandpapa told me that Alex was in the hospital and that he was hurt. So I came rushing here."

Alex rose an eyebrow and said, "But your Grandpa's right here. Hell he's been the guy feeding me Ramen for the past hour." Alex pointed to an old man sitting in front of an old style grill flipping Ramen with one hand and cooling himself off with a Japanese Fan in the other.

"Grandpapa?" Mika shouted upset.

"Yo!" He said simply.

Mika came in and just whacked him upside the head. "Grandpapa!"

"Yo…." He said in pain, tilting to the side a little, still making the Ramen. In fact he had one ready sitting on a table in front of the bed.

"Sweet! More Ramen!" Alex ran up and just attacked the innocent noodles. with a ferocity seen only in the wild.

Watching him guzzle down the poor noodles, Krista just sighed and walked out of the room saying, "Hurry up and finish your noodles. We got work to do."

Alex started protesting aloud but Krista just ignored him.

Alex fell back into his comfy little bed while the others started to leave. Mika called back, "I'll wait for you Alex-san. Come back soon!"

Alex chuckled and shouted back, "Duh! Need me some Ramen pretty soon." After she and her Grandfather had left, leaving him and the doctor alone, Alex just fell back saying, "She caused all that trouble just to see if I was alright?"

The doctor rose an eyebrow, "Well, you seem to have that effect on a lot of girls, remember Noa and Natasha?"

Alex just started to bust out laughing when their memories popped up, "Yeah. Good times. good times."

After that was a sudden silence. A silence that seemed to pick at Alex's nerve more then he would care for. With him, the subject of Noa and Natasha had dealt with a very rough time in his past. A time that he would like to forget about, but as stubborn as he was, didn't due to the fact that it was why he became a true Ac pilot.

"So, whatever happened to Hyame?" George asked out of the blue. If memory served him correctly, Alex wouldn't answer his question.

Alex merely stared at the white sheets that surrounded him.

George sighed, hating the fact that he was right.

Long ago, in fact roughly about four years ago, which in reality wasn't that long, Alexander could usually be seen with a young male that was fourteen as well. He was a cautious quiet young man with a penchant for getting into trouble. He seemed so solitary in nature and his only known family had been a young girl Noa. He was Asian with dark black hair and dark mesmerizing eyes that had given off the feeling that they had seen more then anyone else. Both of them had been involved with a special group that dealt with Acs. When they first met, they had seen each other as enemies and rivals but through time and effort, they had soon seen each other as brothers, while still rivals. You couldn't fight one without the other hitting you, nor could you find one without catching the other right beside him. They had become friends that helped and defended each other like any pair would after decades of knowing each other. George had known them through the same connections that had introduced them into the world of Acs and was in fact their personal doctor and physician. For nearly four solid years he had known them, until one day…..

"Yo doc?"

George looked up after dismissing the last thought that ran through his mind and asked, "Yes?"

Alex was silent for a moment and then asked, "Do you know anything about that group outside?"

"Group?" Asked George curious.

"Yeah. Kind of saw them when I was trying to escape the wrath of Mika." Alex explained out.

George smiled and nodded, "Yes. They are waiting for the man that faced Ace and gave him such a hard time. They are looking for you."

"Damn it." Alex grumbled.

George laughed quietly and remembered "You never did like attention did you."

"Hell, not from the media." Alex fell back into his bed and then wondered aloud, "Wonder what's on." He flipped back up and snatched the remote from a nearby stool and snapped the T.v. on.

"I think you can safely assume 'who' is on, instead of 'what' is on." George pointed out. He then found a spot on the wall near the almost closed door and rested against it. He hadn't had much time to look at the news as of late. Now would be a good time.

Alex glared at him while he switched it to the news channel and lo and behold, there he was. Plastered on the t.v. like some movie star on the run from the damned paparazzi. He twirled his finger in the air mumbling, "Whoopdee-fucking-do."

From the t.v. itself, the female newscaster was too busy jabbering about the event other then thinking about Alex's poor feelings. Eh, probably didn't care all that much. "One of our top stories today was the incredible battle between Alexander Xavior Torrin, a rookie polite with some obvious big balls and Ace, the legend himself retiring from being a Raven at the elderly age of sixty-four. It was a remarkable match but the young raven was simply outmatched by the more experienced raven and snuffed out. Right now, we'll go live to Terran Orrick at the South Archos Medical Hospital."

Alex slapped his hand on his face groaning, "You're joking!"

The image of another reporter came up beside the first one and he proceeded with his thing.

"This is Terran Orrick of the Twelve O' Clock news, here at South Archos Hospital to give you the latest update on the Alexander incident. Apparently Alexander, through hidden sources, is staying at this hospital to recover from his injures. But we and many other reporters from other organizations have arrived here to get the heads up on the only rookie ever in the history of the Arena to face off against the Legendary Ace and survive the encounter with only a head blow."

Alex thought for a moment then asked aloud, "How do they know I only have a head blow?"

"As you can see here however," And go figure out of the blue, an image of Alexander halfway out of the window during the little Mika meeting appeared on the screen. And low and behold that the bottom end of his hospital gown was just flapping in the wind, naked mind you. "That he has caught a case of insanity. Lucky for him that he had the nearby attendants to pull him in before we could ask him a few questions."

Alex was mortified. His under section was pretty much there for everyone to see and like the rest of this damned news show, it for some reason wasn't blurred out.

George however was more on the stunned side, "Is that a parasite in your-"

"Shut up." Alex snapped.

George looked at him for a moment and said, "Hey, I'm willing to knock out the parasite theory. Just in case, we could do surgery."

Alex suddenly went wide-eyed at that one. "So help me, if you even think about doing that to me, I will fucking kill you and every other human on the two worlds."

"Just saying." George reassured with his arms up.

"Well Terran," The female newscaster said pulling back Alex's and George's attention, "For the sake of your job, let's hope that you don't miss out on Alex's arrival. Nice butt shot though."

And with Terran gulping suddenly after he realized what was said, the screen disappeared with another one coming up of a Asian female reporter.

"On other news, we are live with Kimoko Asuka near Lost Haven on the recent incident with the sudden mass explosion rocking the entire stationof Rangor. Kimoko?"

The Asian reporter paused for a moment, due to lag, and started, "Well, Trish, it seems that the reason for the radical explosion is still unknown. It is however been discovered that this base did belong to the Frightener group from mars and is now under intense questioning from the Corporations, the Governments of Earth and Mar as well as the other Raven Groups. They had released no information on the incident and have pretty much thrown themselves into a complete information blackout."

"That's incredible." Commented Trish. "What about the Space Forces investigation team, have they turned up anything to the cause or perhaps what it was?"

Another pause due to lag and Kimoko stated, "Well, the Space Forces are unsure at the moment but they do think that it may have to do with the rumors dealing with the Frighteners messing with "Lost Technology". At the moment they are unsure but what evidence is left does seem to point to that conclusion. On what it was however are mixed views. Some think that it was an energy source or device that may have gone out of control. Other speculate that it may have been a new type of weapon that had backfired or discharged the wrong way. Either way, they say the only thing that could have done the amount of damage that this thing caused in the little amount of space that it did, had to have the energy discharge equivalent to fifty Type Three Spartan Nukes."

Trish seemed to have swallowed his tongue at that one. Turning white as a blanket she asked, "Could the Frighteners possess something so powerful?"

Another pause and then with a emotionless voice that Alex had only heard on rare occasions, "It is possible. Which is why all of the corporations and so forth are assaulting them with Questions. It's only a matter of time before the anger pot that was already brewing between them explodes and one of them declares war."

Trish took her own pause and said, "That is a very frightful idea there. Ever since the MT Empire had declared war five years ago and tried to conquer the two worlds with a innmurable army of automated Mts that was defeated only by a Specialized Group of Ravens, the Charter Act of A.E. 342 strictly prohibited any Corporation from holding an Army. Are you saying that this war may be fought with nothing but Acs piloted of mercenaries?"

"It is possible as is a number of other things. Reflecting on past history alone, the Corporations have on a number of occasions found ways to go about the rules. They can easily use this event as an excuse to build up their military prowess." Kimoko explained.

"But if that happens, what will the Ravens of today do then?"

Kimoko sighed, looking like she wanted to go home or just do something else with her life and replied, "Most likely they will do what they have always done. Go for the highest bidder."

Trish nodded and then cheerfully threw out, "Well thank you on your extensive report Kimoko."

"My pleasure." She slapped as dull as a rock.

Soon, Kimoko's face disappeared from the screen and Trish was the only one that was left. "As we can see from just these few events, this week shall be an eventful week. Later on the hour, we will have the Dow Wendy's Stock Report as well as our very own Julian Marrymen reporting on the lasted fad in Gaming, the newly released Armored Core Series."

Alex scoffed at that one and snapped, "That game is garbage. Even the power of the TechStation 7 can't help that crap."

George looked at him and asked, "What's so wrong with it?"

Alex rose his brow in agitation and answered, "Well first the graphics are about five years old and that alone is saying a lot. All the weapons are imbalanced, the realism blows, the soundtrack is done by artists that most people have never even heard of, and on top of that but the missions are mundane. Go here blow that up. Go there blow this up."

George gave him a funny look and asked, "But isn't that what you guys do?"

Alex was quiet for a moment until he shouted, "Well….It isn't always like that. Sometimes stuff don't blow up, they blow you up."

"And that doesn't happen in the game?" George ponder aloud.

Alex just opted for, "Well, the game is crap anyways. Don't worry about it."

"Not from what I have heard. I've heard that it is quite popular with the young'ins." George so eloquently pointed out.

Alex scoffed at his remark, "Sure if you wish to stay in a world of fantasy for the rest of your life. Not to deal with the realities of this business, real money, real bullets, real lives."

George looked at him for a moment that decided to discontinue the next conversation. In fact, he had become re-interested in the TV as something was going on. He pointed to the TV catching Alex's attention as well.

Trish was caught looking to the side with a ghost white look on her face as she pointed downwards and was barely heard whispering, "Here! Now! At this second!"

"Yes!" Was heard angrily from the background.

Trish turned back to the camera and froze ice solid. Obviously something had disrupted her. But she soon caught herself and regained her not so impressive composure.

"A-And now we turn to a live action report from Watkins Forest, at the Raven's Nest Headquarter."

That piqued both Alex's and George's interest. Alex the most.

A live feed image of a young man, not even in his late twenties, just as white as his fellow reporter was a few seconds earlier, filled the screen. He seemed to be in a large room highly decorated and filled to the brim with people sitting in chairs conversing rapidly and with urgency.

Alex did not like where this was going.

"If you are viewing this, then you are viewing what could be the greatest turning point since the new Age of Mankind." The young reporter had said with a hanging sense of dread dangling from his words. "I am here at the Raven's Nest HQ, awaiting Sirius Devaki, president of the Raven's Nest Organization to appear today at this moment to discuss the recent string of events that have been labeling the accused only as Frighteners."

Sudden the room was in a stir as people started finding their seats and hushing each other up.

"And today it begins." He stated as his finale, taking a seat amongst side the other reporters in the room.

After a moment, a middle-aged man was seen walking from behind the curtains and out onto the stage finding his place on the podium. Behind him was the Emblem of all Raven's from Raven's Nest, a Black Raven shooting up into the sky with a silver sword behind it. The symbols under it that forever burned in Alex's mind, Ζήστε καλΠκύβος ελεύθερος.

Silently and with anger in his voice, he translated the Greek words to English, "Live Well, Die Free."

George looked at him with a glint of sorrow in his eyes. This was a little much for the young boy. But he was strong, he would watch this through just to see what Devaki was cooking up.

The middle-aged man stood in front of the podium and looked to the crowd. This was the President of the Raven's Nest Organization. Listed as fifty-three years of age and an Ex-Raven, he stood tall and proud. His black suit, cleaned and pressed. His classy dress shoes polished to perfection. His black semi-white hair, gelled and slicked back as so not a single strand of hair was standing. His body emitted an air of obedience and perfection. Professional in his duty, he addressed the people in front of him, which Alex now realized wasn't just reporters and journalists, but also Raven's that were registered under Raven's Nest. And not the crappy ones either, the best sat their looking and listening like obedient dogs to their uncaring owner. They respected him, and honored him, but Alex seriously doubted that Dear Mister Sirius Devaki gave a single rat's ass about them. Hell, he would probably try to save his own gelled hair then do a single goddamned thing for them. But they obeyed him none the less…..like good little dogs.

He clutched the edges of the podium with his bare white hands and then looked up, not at the people but more to the ceiling as if he was staring at god.

"My people….." He whispered with a voice that seemed filled with nectar and gold but had a sense of ruthless power tied into it.

Alex almost gagged when he heard him say that, let alone say anything. "My people? Heh…."

And he continued, "For too long we have been mere observers to the events that have gently unfolded unto our laps. We have only watched and seen with a guilty eye the atrocities that have been constantly allowed by the Mars Organization known simply by their simplistic meaningful name, The Frighteners. We have watched as they have maimed, tormented, and rip to bone and sinew their way to what they believe as the top. Earth won't do anything about it. Mars won't either. And since their resurface into the halls of history that constantly remind humanity of it's wrongdoings and it's achievements, they have done nothing more then pillage and plunder in our own yards. The Corporations won't bother with them as long as they produce results and the other Raven Groups are too 'frightened', if you would forgive the pun, to do a damned bloody thing about it."

A still pause and he looked straight into the mass of people in front of him with his cold beady black eyes. The same black eyes that had spelled out lies to Alex. Exploding with emotion, "Well now they have gone too far! For too long they have tried to seize technology far beyond their time and have tried to harness it for their own greedy purposes. For too long, they have hogged the same technology that could easily unravel the mystery of our origins. For too long they have been a plague on humanity, a virus to society, a delinquent to our state of order. For just too long…… But now, WE will stand up to them."

His hardened expression suddenly melted away and softened as if he was a father looking onto his children. Alex almost upchucked again.

"My warriors, my Ravens. Eight years ago, I asked for the time. The time to create a new group based on the principles of humanity, on the idealism of evolving to the next stage of evolution. And you have so graciously given me that time. You, the backbone of my strength, the wholes of my dreams. We united, shall cross the two worlds and purge them into a new light. A light called humanity! And that light shall be on the torch so delicately crafted by you, and so proudly and strongly held up by the perfect symbolism of our power."

He turned a little to his left and extended his craggily old hand. "He will hold our torch."

Swiftly and almost with no noise, a single man rose from out the shadows of the blue curtains and walked across the stage. Suddenly without any second's hesitation, every Raven's Nest Raven jumped up and saluted the individual. He walked up to the president and turned about face to the crowd and saluted them back. He was a young man, couldn't be no more then eighteen. His slanted blue eyes indicated a look of pride and fierceness as well as a finely defined Asian ancestry. His hair, slicked back but spike nearly looked untamed if not by the rest of him. He wore the finest and most clean cut black and blue Raven's Nest uniform that Alex had every seen. The edges where the seam appeared with stringed with a fine thread of gold and over his left pec was an array of medals and awards that signified that he was a soldier that went far beyond the line of duty that was required of a soldier. But that wasn't what had made Alex want to spill all of his Ramen over the bed sheets. It wasn't the medals, it wasn't the uniform, it wasn't the level of perfection that this young man had tried to attain and attain he did. It was what all three of these objects attached to. It was the individual himself.

George gasped and with the light of recognition all over his face he shouted, "Isn't that-"

Alex though had interrupted him, his voice, low and menacing to a level that George had never heard him go to. His hissed his name out like it pure serpent's venom, "Hyame Kumashiro."

"Hyame Kumashiro," The president repeated with the profoundest delight, "will be the one to reveal to others that we, the Raven's Nest will no longer tolerate the obscure behavior of the Frighteners. He is our sword, our shield, and our leader."

Hyame dropped his arm and said while clenching his fist in the air. "These scare tactics of the Frighteners will no longer go on unpunished."

The president nodded and then cried out loud and as if victory was already his, "We, the Raven's Nest will create a new dawn of Mankind and bring the two worlds closer together since the beginning of their division! We will create peace!"

And after the uproar, every reporter in the room jumped up just assaulting him with questions. But Alex had had enough stomach churning activity for one day and just turned off the TV.

For a moment, calmness permeated the room with dreaded eeriness. George just looked at Alex as he pondered what exactly Devaki was trying to plan. Did he just declare war on the Frighteners? And what about all this about creating a "New World?" Had he gone insane? And why is Hyame helping him so dutifully? A lot of things aren't making any sense today. But he wasn't that worried about himself. He was more worried about Alex.

He continued to look at Alex till Alex finally moved.

Alex slid off the bed slowly and asked George, no longer with the muggy and angered filled attitude he had before but the carelessness and excitement that usually carried through his voice, "Where are my clothes? It looks like it's going to get a little more busy from here on out."

George pointed to a stool that rested beside himself and as Alex grabbed them and started to throw them on he had to ask, "What are you going to do? I seriously doubt you're going to help Raven's Nest."

"Hell no." Alex snapped while sliding his left arm through his black long sweatshirt.

"Then are you going to try to stop them?" George asked him.

Alex turned to George and said, "What he said has nothing to do with me."

George just looked at him and wondered what he meant.

"As long as they don't get in my way, I won't touch them. They hurt me and I hurt them. We're done. I just want to get on with my life. If they want to declare war on everyone and their uncle, then let them. That means more money for me." Alex then started to put on his baggy black jeans.

George just stared at him wondering whether or not he was telling the truth or just trying to put up a front. In either case, it seemed that Alex didn't want to get involved with them again. Made sense.

"Well, don't get killed trying to make a living. Try to stay alive."

Alex tied up his military issued combat boots and then threw on his black button up t-shirt with a red decal running all over the back like flames. He turned to George with a grin filled with excited adrenaline, "Haven't met a man or woman who can really beat me yet. Doubt I'll find one anytime soon." Alex then started walking to the door and opened the door.

For a moment he stopped and then quietly commented, "Don't get your self involved with them either man. I don't need my favorite doctor getting killed over something stupid. Then I'll have to raise hell all over again."

The good Doctor chuckled and assured him, "Don't worry about me, I'm done with them as well."

Alex chuckled back and then left moving down the hallway. After a few minutes about thinking about what Devaki had just said, he realized that there was something else going on. He didn't know what but there was definitely something going down. And just the fact that the Frighteners are shut up about it means that something serious is going on. What could possibly be going on though?

Ah, better not think about it. If he did, he might get involved and then might end up a statistic on the Sunday newspaper.

"Alex."

Alex spun around on a single heel and found Kristi standing against the wall.

"You must have been thinking about something big. Did you hear about-"

"Rather not think about it. Too much for me wee little brain." Alex commented pointing to his head. Then realizing that Kristi was standing beside the bathroom, he asked trying to change the subject, "What's wrong had the bubble gut?"

Kristi suddenly turned red and barked, "No! I had to take care of something. And you know I don't use public bathrooms, even if it is in a hospital."

Alex chuckled then after noticing something a little different on her neck decided to ask, "So then what's up with the little hickie on your neckie?"

Kristi really turned red after that and slapped her hand on her neck covering up a little red spot. "I-It wasn't like that!"

And lo and behold who else came out of the bathroom after she did, it was the contact for Ace that Alex had meet soon after the match had ended. The Luscious Sasha. Now it started getting interesting because she had a red mark on the side of her neck as well.

Alex just dropped his jaw and pointed to her neck, "You guys were-!"

Kristi spun around seeing Sasha walk out and apparently Sasha was in a good mood.

"Wow that was good." Sasha slapped Kristi on the shoulder and said, "You still haven't lost your touch."

Kristi couldn't get anymore brighter then that and Alex here was about to flip out.

"Oh shit!" Alex yelled out, "I didn't know you were a Lesbian! That is seriously hot! You and Sasha too! Oh man!"

Kristi though didn't see it the same way as Alex did. Her head started to slowly snap back toward Alex and with a darkened look that could make Lucifer himself start to whimper, she just opened her mouth and emitted a roar like a T-Rex at full blast. Alex spazzed out and just took off in the other direction hoping that Kristi wasn't going after him.

Kristi though just stood there smoldering like Mt. Fuji ready to blow.

Sasha put her hand on the shoulder while giggling, "Quick to anger aren't you?"

Kristi snapped her head back to her but Sasha only shrugged her shoulders.

"It was the moment. It was funny."

Kristi finally calmed down and snapped, "You know damn well we didn't do that in there."

Sasha pointed to where Alex had bolted to and commented, "He didn't."

Kristi sighed exasperated and asked, "Why do you do this all the time? I'm not gay!"

Sasha's mood finally dampened a little and said, "So, let me dream."

Kristi looked at her funny and asked, "Do you like me that much?"

Sasha looked at her for a moment then slapped her back reassuringly, "Kind-of." Then she flipped her other hand up and tossed a vial in the air.

Kristi caught it haphazardly and stared at the clear purple liquid in the vial.

"Keep good care of it. You need it a little more then I do." Then she slapped her on the butt and walked off leaving the flustered Kristi to continue smoldering. Then she looked at the vial and sighed.

"This is getting annoying." She pocketed the vial and started to walk after Sasha. When they had both reached the double doors at the entrance of the hospital they noticed that there was a lot of ruckus going on outside. When Sasha opened the door, they both had found a dazed and confused Alex being assaulted with all sorts of questions.

"Do you think you would be killed?"

"Have you anything to comment on the recent battle?

"What stratagems did you use and why?"

"Have you found out why you lost?

"Do you think Ace should retire?

"Was that you're fist real Arena battle?

"What do you prefer, Cold Cut trio or the Italian B.M.T?"

Alex was beyond the reach of their questions. He felt like some little ant being horribly abused by that mean nasty kid with the damn magnifying glass. But suddenly a small hand gripped his arm forcefully and started to yank him through the cameras, the flashing, and the shouting. Then all he heard was, "Get the fuck out the goddamn way!"

People started to get shoved out the way and shouted back with foul insults. Before Alex had any idea at what the hell was going on, he was thrown into a car, which took off at a reasonably high speed.

It took him a solid second to realize where he was. He looked around with a blank stare and saw that he was inside the interior was a very nice Limo. How he got in the Limo was beyond him. Then his senses started to kick in and he caught the smell of a sweet tangerine perfume that was very strong. He turned to his right and saw one of the most gorgeous women that he had ever seen in his life.

She was lovely with her enchanting sky blue eyes and long streaming black hair. Her natural light tan and her slanted eyes complemented her angular face. And her voice was dripped with the sweet nectar of lust.

"My name is Azura." She extended her small slender hand towards me and asked, "You're Alexander correct?"

Alex grinned and said in the best childish voice he could muster, "Yep. That's me, the one and only." He shook her hand "ohhing" at how soft her wonderfully tanned skin was. She had to have been Hispanic, and it looked strong in her as well. Alex's eyes wondered a little as he analyzed what she wore. It was a burgundy tight fitting business suit. Her petite chest filled it well though and her legs were even better looking then Kristis. Way better!

"Umm, Alex, you might want to stop drooling.

Alex turned to the source of the voice and it was Kristi right beside him on his left.

"Whoa! Since when did you get here?" Then he remembered that comment he mad earlier and the anger that was thrown at him. He leaned more to Azura and asked, "You're not going to hurt me are you?"

Kristi merely looked at him through slit eyes and said, "You're not lucky enough to see it coming."

Alexander gulped at that comment and then jumped when he felt a pair of hands run over his shoulders and clutch his chest slightly. It was Azura.

"Now why would you hurt this little boy?" Azura commented with a lust-filled look in her eyes.

"Kristi glared at her and said, "Might not want to get too close to him. He's diseased."

"This cutie?" She cooed into his eye. "I doubt that."

Alex pretty much was on the verge of Heaven.

"Ahem."

The three of them looked across the way and looked to the source of that sound. Inside the little compartment that looked like a hotel room almost, was Sasha and a young man sitting on the other side. The young man though looked about thirty years of age but that wasn't what got Alex on edge. It's what he looked like. Hair slicked back. Suit pressed and clean. Cigar in one hand and a glass of what smelled like Bacardi in the other. Shoes shined to care. Eyes looking like they had much more experience then the usual thrity year old is supposed to have.

"You're a Corporate head aren't you?" Alex shot out of the blue.

The young man smiled and asked playfully, "Can you guess which one?"

Alex thought for a moment and said flat out, "Mirage."

"Yes sir. You win a million credits." He announced in a playful manner. "How'd you know?"

Alex smiled and while taking Azura's arms off of him, he sat leaning forward and from a little table in the middle of the room, he grabbed a magazine of "Corporate Magazine" and showed him the cover. It had the Ceo of the Mirage Corporation shaking hands with the Ceo of Kisaragi in front of a sector underground that was rebuilt because due to lack of overseer. The man in front of him was the guy in the picture.

"A little humble aren't we?" Alex commented as he held up the magazine.

The Corporate Head smiled revealing some well taken care of teeth, at him and said, "My name is Ryan, Ryan Skyler. And I have a mission for you Alexander Xavior Torrin."

Didn't really want to end the chapter like this but I didn't have much of a choice. I have some more ideas but I can only put some much in these chapters without making them dreadfully long. Hopefully this will entertain you till I get the next chapter out which will hopefully be by the end of next week. Surprisingly I'm not getting as much reviews as I and hoped for but hey, I can't be picky. Hope you enjoy! Oh yeah, any rpoblems or suggestions go ahead and comment on them.


	5. 5

Chp. 5

Alex found it difficult to understand as to why the rich needed to spend their money on incredulous and more so expensive items that have no possible use whatsoever. Kind of like the thirty-three million credit Pre-Great Destruction Vase that just happened to be sitting right next to him as he entered the grand'o'house of the great and mighty big spender Ryan Skyler. How was he supposed to know it was there when he starting spazzing out at the size of the house. But there was one good thing to it, at least it was still worth thirty-three million credits, just only about hundred per piece.

And nobody had bothered to tell him that the sword he decided to grab and suddenly enter himself in the Feudal Era had belonged to the Legendary Japanese Warrior Miyamoto Musashi, which priced in at over two hundred and thirty thousand. Alex was defiantly sure though it was only worth about "Half" that now. Of course the gash on the gold and bronze Budda Statue that had caused the sword to snap like a twig shouldn't have been so close to the three Ancient Chinese Carpentry pieces that used to be hanging up on the wall and now looked more like kitchen napkins then full body rugs.

After a while they had found a way to restrain him by throwing him into a chair and tying him up. Of course he had protested but even Kristi had agreed to it and Sasha had already kindly departed fearing that anybody within Alex's company for next couple years would either be killed or neck deep in debt. She didn't need that. Besides, Ace had already given her a call about a mission of another Raven pilot. It paid well, so he needed her confirmation.

Being bound down by rope and masking tape though wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world though. But he did have to admit, it did give him a good perspective of the room since he got bored of listening to Kristi's and Ryan's politics. It was a like a large office with a single desk near the back. The desk looked expensive though, made of what looked like dark oak with a shine to it that seemed to reflect Alex's own ridiculous image off of it.

Then there was the fact that the back wall wasn't even a wall but a row of wall sized windows that overlooked Ryan's backyard as well as most of the city that rested not too far from here. It was a wonderful view.

Then there was stuff on the right and left sides of the room. On the right, Alex's right that is, there was a wall dedicated to ancient items such as swords, books, tablets, and even artifacts.

On the left side, Alex's left as well, was the coolest little mini-bar in the world. It even had it's own bored out of his mind as well bartender. Behind the Bartender himself since the bar itself jutted out a little was nothing but incredibly expensive wines, beers, brinks, and pure alcohol. You name it, it was there. The Bar was centered in the middle of the wall covering about a little more then half of the wall itself. On both sides of the bar however were actually human sized models of Acs, all with Mirage type parts from what Alex was able to tell.

Well at least there was one other thing that could entertain Alex. Azura was still here. And she rested cross-legged across from him, sitting on top of the desk. And she was looking at him, very hard.

"So what is this mission about?" Kristi, sitting beside Alex in the same three seated burgundy couch, decided to start off by asking the most simple of questions.

Ryan, leaning back against the smooth polished oak wood desk, cocked an eyebrow and commented, "My, my, my. Straight to business aren't we?"

Kristi glared at him and said professionally, "I don't let entertainment get in the way of business. That's why I'm still alive."

Ryan chuckled quietly and then popped himself off the desk. Then waving a hand to the side pointing to his personal mini-bar, he offered, "May I at least interest you in some nice Bourbon. Or perhaps your favorite as well as mine, Bacardi?"

Kristi's face never faltered from it's focused composure, "I don't drink and deal."

Ryan grinned and replied, "Well, it helps me think." Then he turned to the bored Alex and offered him as well.

"Would you like a drink young Alex?"

Alex jumped at that request but Kristi, like the ever-watchful mother over her children, cut him off and said, "No that's alright. Besides, he is only eighteen."

Ryan on the other hand commented, "I know."

Alex started nodding viciously and said, "I want anything you got." While Kristi gave Ryan a look that would wilt flowers. She didn't like this Ryan. He was trying everything in his power to put this little meeting to his advantage. Hell, if Alex can hardly contain himself when he eats Ramen or plays video games, then what makes him think he can handle a drink?

Ryan snapped his fingers and his own personal Bartender that looked like he was busy determining how his life went in the wrong direction, snapped to.

"Mario, give me a glass of Bacardi and our young Raven here a wine glass of our finest wine." Ryan ordered.

The bartender merely nodded and started to prepare the drinks.

Ryan then turned to Kristi as she looked at him hard.

"Do you disapprove?"

"It's illegal to give alcoholic drinks to minors." She reminded him.

"I'm the Ceo and owner of Mirage." Ryan stated with a power-hungry grin, "What makes you think that anybody would say anything to me. Especially something as trivial as this?"

"That's not the point. If I don't approve of the mission, hint, hint, the person offering the mission or what the mission is about then I will refuse the mission, thus forcing my Raven to refuse the mission. Otherwise and he will lose me as being his contact." Kristi then turned to Alex as he impatiently awaited his drink, "I seriously doubt that he wants that."

Alex wasn't even paying attention to her. He spotted the wine that the Bartender was about to use and noticed that it was a wine of rich and luscious flavor. And it was dated back to the year 1967. That was way before the Great Destruction and that meant that it had reached a flavor that would be sweet and satisfying.

Ryan gave Alex a wary look as he caught him drooling over the wine.

"Oh, I think he can handle himself. He has been involved in a lot more then you think."

That rose Kristi attention. "What do you mean?"

"Just a statement made by a knowing person." He merely commented.

While the statement itself made no sense to Kristi whatsoever, the mere mention of Alex being involved with more then what he seemed to be involved with peeked her interest. She would have to ask him at another time.

Now would be pointless seeing as how he got a handle on the wine that Ryan had offered. And even though he now sat there trying to figure out the best way to attack this drink while he was bound down, this would most likely end with him not being able to hold his liquor and end up a mess of a bigger fool then he already was. Which is not the thing she needed right now.

Kristi turned back to Ryan and asked again, "The mission."

Ryan had just graciously received his own drink and after taking a quick whiff of the delicious aroma, he looked at Kristi from the corner of his eye and said with a sly voice, "Of course, the mission."

He walked back to his desk and reached over near the side of the desk and pushed what looked like a button. Suddenly the lights dimmed and then he pushed another button. A foot long opening appeared in the middle of the floor and an elongated silver pillar came out of the ground. It rose about four feet then stopped with a slight hiss. Ryan walked up to the pillar and said, "The latest in Mirage Holographic technology." He tapped a button on the side of the pillar and it started to spit out lights in every direction till a image of the solar system as we know it filled the whole room. It was drawn to a much smaller scale but it was definitely convincing.

Kristi looked at the hologram visibly impressed with how far Mirage has been pushing themselves. Alex on the other hand was ohhing and ahhing.

Ryan then decided to throw in, "It's only three and forty thousand credits. On sale now at your participating retail stores."

Kristi shot him a "piss off" look and he bowed.

Alex could be seen struggling to jump up and touch one of the rotating planets that past right in front of him. It looked like Jupiter and Alex really wanted to touch that big red spot.

Ryan then tapped another button on the side and ordered aloud, "Zoom in, sector's three to four."

The area that contained Earth and Mars was suddenly magnified. It expertly represented everything up to date. The Earth looking back to it's old self again. Mars looking a lot like Earth now but still with its red landscapes. The Moon heavily industrialized with its massive cities and so forth. The Rangor Space Station orbiting the moon. And then the strip of massive space stations that were each one enormous city that extended from Earth to Mars. Each of them were only about a forth of the size of the moon, but they were an entire flat panel station that had a city on it encased and protected by an extremely durable see through dome. Five of them laid out in a straight line that once every year, would become the joining path between earth and Mars. At the moment they laid by themselves waiting to the annual event that proceeded with the joining of them, Earth, and Mars.

Of course the fifth one, Neo Vass City was a tad bit more darker then the rest of the hustling and bustling siblings.. It used to be the most populated of all the cities with a population running more then one and a half billion occupants. But an event had happened there when the Frightners had attacked it. It was supposedly an attack that had happened because they were bored. Some think that the corporations had something to do with it. But nobody knows exactly the reason for it.

"Impressive." Kristi decided to mention. Right now the Earth was far from Mars and the Stations, but Kristi had a feeling that Ryan's mission had something to do with either the stations, the moon, or Mars. But ever since the last scuffle between Zio Matrix and Mirage, she had a big feeling that it was Mars.

"The mission…." Ryan had started as he took a quick sip of his drink. He relished the flavor for only a moment and restarted, "The mission will take place on Mars."

'How did I know?' Kristi thought to herself. She turned to Alex who was back to his original problem of trying to figure out how to drink his drink. Then she noticed that Azura, who had been watching and giggling this entire time, had gotten up and walked over to help Alex with his problem. She took a pair of scissors that was left on the floor and cut the rope and tape that was binding him. All the while, she was mumbling something in her ear and he was grinning a little too hard.

For some reason, Kristi felt anger and resentment at Azura, either for messing with her client or because of jealousy. Hmmm, jealousy. Nah, it was because he was her client and he was her responsibility. That and she didn't need an incompetent client that was being seduced by some two-cent whore.

"Kristi?"

Kristi snapped her head toward Ryan and then glared at him, watching him grin in amusement.

"Interesting." He merely stated.

Kristi then glared twice as hard at him and snarled, "Ever see a woman rip off a guy's arms and beat him down with them?"

Ryan countered, "Ever see a man empty a twelve round clip using just his toes?"

That one was definitely something odd and Kristi decided to just get on with the briefing, hopefully, Alex, for his own good, was listening at least a little bit.

"Continue please." Kristi asked kindly.

Ryan grinned a little harder and then went on, "The mission consists of a simple insertion and destroy mission. Alex's main objective will be a massive reactor that rests inside of a somewhat large base."

"A Zio Matrix base?" Kristi put on the table.

Ryan decided to snag the bait and nodded, "Yes, a Zio Matrix base." He then ordered his new toy, "Zoom in northern hemisphere, Mars. Target Area 40 by 35 by 106."

Mars suddenly got a lot larger and it pretty much filled the room and then flattened out showing them a very detailed Zio Matrix Bunker that most likely housed the base underground. The top though was armed like a bitch and would be just as hard to get through. The Bunker itself looked like a rectangular fortress that had on each corner, a massive Linear Cannon. Then on the tops of the walls, about five on each, if Kristi's scales were correct, hundred foot wall, were very large Missile Racks. If her memory served her correctly, they were the Zio Matrix made, Mark Eleven Apollo Archer Missile Systems. Each weapons system held four racks, each rack holding about a hundred Apollo Class missiles. The very same missiles that were based off of the design of the Mirage Meteor Cruise missile which just so happened to be the missile that was sent after that one lone Raven not too long ago. Anyways, each rack had four hundred missiles and there were five on each wall. Four walls…..meant about eight thousand missiles! What type of base requires eight thousand missiles and four Massive MT grade Linear Cannons to defend it!

"If you haven't noticed by the defense system of this base, it is pretty much impenetrable. Because not only what you see here is a threat, but also Zio Matrix has already taken the liberty of making it's own army, buying most of their five hundred AI controlled MTs from MT Empire. Reports from within say that they are soon sending in another hundred in by the end of the week. Not only that, but they are also sending in several Kisaragi made AI ACs. Roughly about four of them."

Kristi, as much as she wanted to just jump up and scream at him for even bothering to ask her about this mission, knew from past experience that they had trick up their sleeve. Better have because it would take an army of Ravens to take down that base. But this just begs a question. What could they possibly have inside this base that would require this much firepower?

"Of course as much defense as their little base has, even the largest giants can stumble." Ryan started to walk around the illusionary base and explained. "We have hired another Raven. His orders are to head to another base nearby that we have found evidence as to being of relative importance to Zio Matrix. He will attack their facility with everything he has including a squad of Class S MTs that we have procured from MT Empire."

"Interesting how the business worlds revolves, isn't it?" Kristi scoffed at the loyalties of the Corporations. On the inside she was cringing at the dreaded thought of the Class S MTs. They were almost to the level of an AC carrying the firpower and armor level of one. The only thing that separated the two was that the Class S, known widely as Biggy, was manufactured only by MT Empires and there design came preset.

Ryan smiled and said, "Isn't it interesting?"

Kristi just glared at him.

Ryan continued while walking back to his desk, "Once that base falls under attack, we think that Zio Matrix will pull the reserves from this base labeled as Zio-563-43, thinking that this base will not be engaged, and send them to the other base. We estimate that it will be roughly about half of the MTs and all four AI ACs. That's almost forty percent of their firepower"

Kristi thought about this for a moment and realized that Alex's normal style of combat, go in and raise hell, would not work. He would need some serious stealth tech to first get through the main defense system and then need another miracle to get through the checkpoints and into the actual base. And what about the Reactor? How would he get about destroying that? Will they provide a timed charge? Or will they play it by hand and hope that he can find his way out in time? This was too risky, way too many variables, way too many problems, way too many things to go wrong. She didn't like it. But the ultimate decision would be Alex's though. She was there to confirm and acknowledge, not make the actual decision. She could force him to think otherwise, but he might do it anyways.

Kristi turned to Alex who most likely hadn't heard anything because he was too busy giggling and having a golly-good time with the seductive Azura. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea intentionally getting him killed.

"I assure you Kristi," Ryan said snatching her attention from Alex and his newfound friend, "your Raven will be paid handsomely for this. If he succeeds, then Mirage will finally be able to get a solid foothold onto Mars. Since whatever Zio Matrix has here is obviously very profitable, they will be hit where it hurts the most and a power vacuum will ensue. Once the vacuum is in place, Mirage will move in and claim some territory in the name of business. The other thing that is stopping us is Zio Matrix; soon, they will not be a threat."

Kristi thought about this even harder at the moment. This was the part of the job that she couldn't stand. The morality of the missions. They contained none whatsoever. Instead it was the biggest dog eats the little dog and then takes his turf. In this case, it was Mirage trying to get Zio Matrix to fall to it's knees so they can come in and claim some of the rich materials that Mars is abundant with.

Even though the Corporations themselves are different in terms of power, Zio Matrix has always had the advantage by being the more benign of the two corporations, willing to talk it out instead of Mirage's more "You submit or die" attitude. Because of that, the people of Mars favor Zio Matrix. Also Zio matrix does a lot for the communities because they realize that having the people backing them gives them a lot of ground in case of such a move from Mirage or perhaps Crest.

Unfortunately, since Zio Matrix is the largest of the Corporations on Mars, they have made a lot of enemies. Bicentennial Enterprises have always argued that Zio Matrix hogs all of the resources while MT Empire just sells its soul to the highest bidder. Even though the Raven Nests have no problems as long as they have jobs open for them.

So in this little corporate war, Zio Matrix is pretty much alone, even if they are very strong. Stronger then both Crest and Chrome, but not as well equipped or experienced as Mirage unfortunately. Hopefully, this mission won't affect Mars too much.

Kristi turned back to Alex and finding herself disgusted from the fact that Azura was now sitting in his lap nibbling on his ear and he was just drooling all over himself, she decided to interrupt him and yell out his name, "Alex!"

Alex, through his third glass of wine and trying to aim for the bottle that sat two inches away from him snapped his head back, with Azura on his lap glaring at Kristi for bothering them, asked, "Yo? What up?"

Kristi hoped that this answer would come out better then she though it would, "Alex, did you get what he said? It sounds like a very dangerous mission. I'd advise against it."

Why did it seem like after she had said that, Azura's glare turned viper.

Alex looked at Kristi for a moment and then looked at Ryan, "I'll do it."

Why didn't that surprise her? "Alex rethink this." Kristi asked almost begging, "This mission is suicidal. The alcohol must be affecting you or something because even the most greenie stuck-up Raven would think otherwise."

Alex looked at her with a straight face, "I'm not that drunk. Besides it pays good and is a good challenge."

Kristi looked at him with a incredulous look on her face and then snapped, "This isn't a game Alex. Not even Ace or Mobius himself could do this."

Alex countered, "I'm not them. I'm Alex."

"Exactly the reason why you shouldn't do this."

"Kristi in the end, I'm the one who accepts the mission. So let me accept it."

"But!"

"Kristi!"

Alex yelling like that caught Kristi off guard. He had never raised his voice like that to her ever. Most likely in fear of her beating him down to a bloody reminisce of his former self.

Alex kindly and gently moved Azura off of him and stood up through the mars Lanscape and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I got this."

Why on Earth he placed his hand on her shoulder like he knew her for years upon years was beyond her. However why she suddenly felt so comforted by the way his boyish grin peered into her eyes and the soft touch of his warm hand rested on her shoulder trying to reassure her was beyond her just as much. But one thing was for sure, there was this air around this young man that seem to place people in a comforting trance, just laid back and the sort. Why he was like that, and why him never made sense to Kristi until much further down the road.

(Mars Orbital Station SkyEYE, A.E. 347)

"Why did I accept this mission again?"

"Probably because you were drunk?"

"No I wasn't. I would remember if I was drunk."

"Oh now I remember, it was the 'challenge.'"

"Well next time I see a challenge, you need to convince me otherwise." Alex growled while he sat impatiently in his newly modified Gunner MK II. Well, it wasn't really the MK II yet. It had some newer age parts thanks to the kindness of Mirage. That and they really wanted him to succeed. Everything was pretty much just an updated version of the older gunner this time. He had dropped his other machine gun and missile launcher for the thousand round machine gun and a small but effective missile launcher. He had also switched his extension boosters for missile extensions. Luckily he had the ability to spot a sale for a quarter mile out and found the latest in missile retaliatory missile extensions for only a faction of the price. These babies have thirty missiles and can fire six missiles per salvo. They are a little heavy but since Gunner didn't have much of anything else weighting down the core, it wouldn't affect him that much.

Well, except for the fact that the person who sold him the extensions looked a little shady. But hell, all merchants look a little shady one time or another. They just want your money in the end anyway.

Ah yes, but now back to the problem at hand. Ryan did tell him that he was going to assault a Zio Matrix Base. He also told him that it was far off in the middle of nowhere on the surface of Mars. What they didn't tell him was that he was going to do a Halo Drop right smack dab in nearby. Far enough so the base sensors won't detect him but close enough so it would only include about a couple hour run. Maybe shorter if he used his OverBoost a lot but that might allow the enemy to detect him so he was tied to running instead.

Now if Alex's memory served him correctly, and with stuff like this it unfortunately did, a Halo Drop was pretty much what Earth did to Mars a lot after the Age of Nine-Ball. Every so often Earth would send a group of Acs, particularly teams of three or more and use one of multiple Stations they had orbiting Mars. Now for the most part they were retrofitted to transport cargo to certain areas. Of course stick an Ac inside of a cargo container and launch it to the planet and you have a mobile transfer system for Acs to blow shit up.

But Alex couldn't stand it. The Internal Dampeners designed to nullify the effects of OverBoost still let some of the G's go through. A drop like this, being launched from the upper atmosphere would be a lot more then a couple G's and the Internal Dampeners wouldn't be able to stop all of it. Hell, he'd be lucky if he could knock out half the G-Force that he is going to go through.

And that wasn't really the worst of it. It was the force of impact when he hit the ground. See, cargo isn't flesh and blood, and for the most part, it is well protected with tons of insulation. An Ac on the other hand was something that you don't usually throw into one of these pods and wasn't designed to protect it as well. He would be lucky if he made it to the surface in one piece let alone make it through the net of sensors, then the base defenses, and then god only knows whatever the hell else was in that base. He had accepted a mission that was way beyond what he could take or accomplish.

And for some reason or another, that is the exact reason as to why he was so fidgety. He wanted to get this show on the road! The white side of him was coming out and he was getting excited. That and he was getting that itchy trigger finger. He really wanted to blow something up. Hopefully that base was primarily A.I. controlled. That way he would have a good time blowing up mindless robots. If the situation was that they were human piloted, then he would have to take the extra effort to not kill them. Then that would complicated things.

"You ready Alex?" Kristi called through the comm.

Alex rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think? I'm a fifty ton robot about to hit the atmosphere at about two hundred miles per hour then when I hit that oh so wonderful ground, I'm hitting that at about five times that. And that is hoping that the reverse thrusters actually work!"

"Well, then your fine, aren't you?" Kristi said sarcastically.

"Oh yeah." Alex sneered. "I'm just dandy." Alex checked up on the rest of his equipment, making sure everything was in tiptop shape. He had a new FCS so that part of the problem wasn't a bad thing anymore. Well, everything seemed okay. Now was the moment of truth.

"Well, then. Let's get this shit over with."

There was a short pause on Kristi end and then she came up on the comm. With her business voice. "Alex we have a problem."

"Damn!" Alex snapped annoyed. "Already! Shit the mission hasn't even started!"

"The other Raven is nowhere to be found. They are trying to contact him now to see if he is still doing the mission but it isn't looking good right now. They are already at his place and it's empty. That and his Ac is still in the garage. Zio Matrix may have found out about the mission and already got to him. Since he was a Elitist Raven, it would be easier to find out about him and his mission and then easier to dispose of him."

The way she had said dispose so callously frighten Alex. That wasn't exactly something he enjoyed hearing. "So now what?" Alex asked curious as how this mission was going to start.

"Well, I'm waiting for confirmation from Mirage. They should have had a back-up plan in the works."

Alex mused to himself for a moment and then after using his right side screen to punch some numbers as well as pull up some displays of the base, he suddenly had an idea. Of course it was a stupid idea, but hell, an idea's an idea.

"Yo, Kristi." Alex called out.

"Yes?" She responded somewhat busy on her end.

"Change the target location of this station to point 40 by 35 by 106, then power up the launch mechanism for an Emergency Launch."

Kristi had put two and two together way faster then Alex had thought, and for this he received the normal but vicious chewing out.

"The hell! Are you crazy! That throws you smack dab in the middle of that hornet's nest! And then use an Emergency Launch? You can't survive that! No human can!"

"It's possible. The highest this thing will go up to is fifteen G's. I already know I can take ten. I think I can take five more." Alex then started to prepare his Ac for the harsh fall. Hopefully his calculations are correct and he won't become just another stain on the base floor. A big one mind you but a stain none the less.

"Wait, what do you mean 'you know you can take ten G's?' You haven't had that kind of training. Starting Freelancer pilots are only trained for OverBoost speed and that is at most three hundred miles per hour." Kristi asked curious, suddenly reminded about what Ryan had said earlier. Something about Alex being involved in a lot more then one would think.

"Trust me. I can take it." But even Alex was unsure if he actually could take it. He did lie about what he could take. It was more like twelve G's, but that alone almost rip him in half. Fifteen was pushing it a little.

"Even still," Kristi snapped trying to spin Alex out of his sudden ridiculous plan, "The force of impact will be like hitting a concrete wall at over 20,000 thousand miles per hour. The pod can take that. The Ac and you can't. You guys will be crushed under your own weight!"

"Kristi, I did the math and it will work just launch me now or we end up losing the window for the launch. It's now or never!" Alex was getting tired of arguing. If he succeeded, he will forever remember this as the stupidest thing that he had ever done in his life. If he failed…… Well, hopefully he might look like a pretty stain.

Kristi thought about it for another moment and realized that there was only another minute for this poorly constructed plan to work. Well, Alex seemed like he was confident that it would work. But it-

"Kristi!" Alex yelled as loud as he could.

Kristi shook her head and then decided to go against her better judgment, "Give me a couple of seconds."

Soon, Alex heard a series of clangs against the pod and then something hissed and dislodged itself from the pod. Since this was going to be an Emergency launch, the sudden blaring of Klaxons wasn't exactly unexpected. It was the sudden weightlessness and drop that had caught him off guard. And he was right; this wasn't going to feel good either. Already he felt his body trying to dismember itself from the seat and then out through the back end. Alex grabbed his seat buckles and tightened them as hard as he could then while using all of his strength, he activated his Ac to combat mode, knowing he would need it ready the moment it hit the base.

Then he activated the outside cameras. He had already past the upper atmosphere and could see the base. This trip would be over in only a couple more seconds and already he felt like he wouldn't make the journey itself. This was way worst from the last time he did a drop like this. It felt like his skin was peeling off, and all of his organs were in his head. His ears heard nothing but the roar from the outside.

He couldn't even hear himself scream out in the top of his lungs, "This was stupid!"

No one had seen it coming. Reports from headquarters indicated that the Raven that was sent to attack the base had already been taken care of. So there wasn't anything to worry about. They had hired her for nothing, fearing an enemy that couldn't even get off his feet to fight let alone assault a base with Mts provided by the callous MT Empire.

That would mean that she would get paid for just guard duty. Easy money for an easy job, right? Well then why the hell did she hear a sonic boom that nearly flattened the base and then barely have time to see something that look like a DropPod come in and rip through the bunker and finally stop about halfway through the base?

After being dazed, she hit the comms and started screaming out to the supervisor asking what the hell was going on. He had said that the pod that she had just seen had stopped at about level 23, halfway through the base and had gotten stuck on the roof of one of the lower Ac garages. Where they stored the un-activated AI Acs. And that after they had sent a team of Mts in to check things out, the pod had opened and an Ac had boosted out and wiped out the team. At the moment they were trying to activate the Acs without him knowing and before he targeted them.

Sophia Galarza, Raven Name 'Last Ark' of the Knighthood Ravens, had already gotten into her Ac labeled as Sapphire Knight. A middleweight design with an Overboost core and armed with a Moonlight Blade, a Karasawa rifle and ECM makers, she was ready to fight this enemy and destroy him.

All right then, don't know how well this will come out for you guys. Hopefully it will go good. Maybe you guys might recognize Sophia. If you don't just skim over the first chap and you'll see. And I know I didn't go into detail about what Sophia looks like if that is problem. There was no point since she is in the Ac. And detail on the Ac will be provided next chapter. So will details as to how Alex survived that fall. It's not impossible. It's just very unlikely. And sorry for taking so long as well. School and video games got in the way of my writing so I got a little behind. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out by the end of next week. Read and Review please!


	6. 6

Chp. 6

For some reason or another, Alex had survived the drop. It was just as he had planned too. The base was hastily constructed to protect whatever was in here, which meant that it had a lot of structural deficiencies. The very center of the base wasn't built as well as the rest of the base so Alex had projected, more like guessed, that it would collapse easily under the force of impact. Hoping that this proved true for the rest of the base, he pretty much used half of the installation as a giant metallic cushion. Of course it didn't come without cost. His armor suffered dearly losing nearly half of it and he was still crying over the loss of his missile extensions that he had just gotten.

Of course, he couldn't cry for long. They had already sent in a small squad of five A.I. Mts. Alex suddenly grinned at the realization of the fact that they were un-piloted. This would allow him to unleash all of his effort of them. It was one of the many flaws that his character had been blessed with.

But first he would have to find his way out of the drop-pod he had just used. Activating his Elf2, he sliced through the pod armor bulkhead and then boosted straight into it. It dislodged after some convincing and fell to the ground opening the door to the five Mts. Alex immediately charged them and with his famous battle cry, well famous to him, and he charged the slow reacting Mts and pretty much ran through them with a barrage of machine gunfire and energy blades.

After they were taken care of, Alex decided that in his best interest to see exactly where he was. Pulling up the map on his main screen, it pinpointed him to be approximately two kilometers from his objective. For an Ac, that was a stroll through the park. But the fact that this base is this large made Alex wonder exactly what could they have hidden in here.

Still, he had a mission to complete and complete he shall. Activating his OB, he flew out of the room not realizing that he had just left three fully armed A.I. Acs completely unharmed.

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"I've found the target. I'm about four hundred feet from him, three floors up." Last Ark reported to the base commander as her Ac, Sapphire Knight skimmed its way nimbly through the corridors.

"His target is most likely that recent package that was sent in from the polar division. Damn." The commander, aged and now weary from the recent job of turning havoc into order, thought for a moment.

"Unlikely." Stated Last Ark through her headsets microphone.

The Base Commander looked up at her, wondering what she looked like from under that Reflective helmet that she almost always wore, and asked, "What do you mean?"

The Raven flicked some switches and grunted as the Ac squealed under it own weight obviously doing a difficult maneuver.

"He is most likely heading for the main reactor to find a quick solution to this problem. Besides, it is highly unlikely that whoever sent this Raven knew that quickly about that particular item."

The Base Commander mused to himself and then really started to get worried, "If that's the case then this whole base could be in trouble." He though hard, bunching together his face in serious thought and then yelled out to the subordinates behind him, "Activate the A.I. Acs and send them after that Raven! Also send all of our Class A Mts through the back elevator shaft to intercept him at the bay leading to the Reactor Room!"

"You might want to also evacuate all non necessary personnel as well." The Raven advised.

The Commander looked at the floor for only a second and then ordered for the whole base to evacuate just as she had said. Then looking up at her, he asked more gently then any other person had spoke to her during her duration here, "Please, don't let it come to this base going up in smoke. There are too many people here to die like that."

Last Ark was silent as she gazed through her helmet into the man's eyes trying to see if he actually meant it. Once she found her answer she stated grimly, "I can't promise anything. It all depends on how strong this enemy's Raven is."

He turned white with fear while trying to retain his composure.

Last Ark noticed this and then reassured, "Rest assured commander, I am a Raven of the Knighthood, I am bound by honor to try my hardest. Even if that means my own death."

The Commander nodded and smiled, "I'll try to give you as much support as possible." Then he clicked off to let the Raven concentrate on the mission ahead.

Last Ark sighed solemnly and then commented to no one in particular, "Hell, any man crazy enough to pull a stunt like that and then actually pull it off might need something bigger to take him down." Her worst fear was that it was a heavily armored Tank. Her Sapphire was a blader through and through. A Tank's weapons would shred her to pieces in a closed-in room that might carry severe restrictions. Hopefully she could catch him before he reached the Reactor room. Then she would have a chance. Hopefully.

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Alex yelled out as he charged forward rushing the tenth group of Mts that has run into him. This was getting ridiculous. How they had so many Mts inside the base beyond Alex. Of course at the moment he wasn't worried about that. He was worried about trying to stay alive while trying to conserve his ammo reserves. His Ac was specifically equipped with a small backpack that was filled with ammo that rested on his leg joints. There were four in total, two for his machine gun, one for his missiles, and the last one for his grenade launcher. Each pack would only supply him with ½ the full ammo that the actually weapon carried. Hopefully it would be enough.

Gunner rammed the first Mt while slicing through it then unleashed a flurry of bullets on the other four. Three were destroyed while the last one attempted to hop towards him. Alex grinned as he jumped up into the air and landed on top of the Ac with no penalty to his armor. Then he boosted forward through the tunnel-like corridors and suddenly found himself in a large room filled to the brim with boxes of mystery items. He didn't know what they could possibly be but he didn't care. He lifted his machine gun to mow them down with no mercy; since they couldn't fight back he would end up getting a kick out of it. Mindless destruction, go figure, it was one of his darkest desires.

And just as he was about to light the crates up, a beam shot past the head of his Ac, shearing steel and armor with immense heat. The beam continued on it's course unhampered by the close call and ignited against the boxes with torrent of power that shook the room Alex was in. A firestorm raged, reached it's peak and then subsided into smoke and burning wood and steel.

Alex turned his Ac back and started tripping as he saw three other Acs armed to the teeth looking at him. All three were middle-heavy weights, armed with at least one cannon, a missile launcher of their choosing and then an assortment of dual handheld weapons. One with dual machine guns, another with dual shotguns, and the third with dual rifles. The middle one flipped back the beam cannon that it had just tried to use on Alex and then boosted forward.

Alex checked his sensors as he nodded to himself and said aloud to no one in general, "Human Plus?"

His sensors read no one piloting the Ac, any of them actually.

"So then, AI Acs?" Alex laughed. "Oh yeah, this will be easy and a half!"

Alex dashed back as the first Ac, armed with the twin shotguns, took a salvo at him. Alex dodged it nimbly only taking pecks of damage from the shotguns wide range. Then attempting to dash back forward with his Halberd, he charged and tried to swipe the Ac but a warning on his main board, and inside his head, screamed at him to dodge the incoming missile salvo that attempted to take his life. Alex dodged to the right then hard back to the right as the missiles harmlessly past him into the rubble of broken crates only to explode against the wall and make a gaping hole in it.

Alex had noticed through that group of missiles that there were heavy missiles and micro missiles in there. These guys are packing some serious firepower, Alex thought to himself. He knew he had to end this quickly. He started his charge again against the Shotgun Ac, but the AI Ac made a tactical retreat weaving through the steady stream of machine gun fire that Alex tried to hit him with. Suddenly another Ac came from the Shotgun Ac's right and focused both it's machine guns and missiles on him. Alex cursed as he was forced to move back again but nearly jumped out of his Ac as he saw the third Ac already behind him trying to outflank him with it's grenade launcher.

Alex screamed as he jumped up while moving backwards and dodged the incoming grenade that would have most likely spelled instant doom had it hit him like that. However he couldn't dodge the Machine Gun Ac and the Shotgun Ac when they both came in sliding across the ground, rotating around each other, taking potshots at him. Expertly maneuvering his Ac, Alex dodged some of it, but it quickly taken a nasty toll on his armor and he soon realized that he was running out of room to fight in. The Rifle Ac had decided to constantly stay behind him while firing Grenades and missiles as the other two Acs kept his attention on them with their main weapons bearing down on him.

Alex soon realized that he was getting a little too cocky and thought about making a strategic retreat. He remembered the earlier missile salvo and looked around finding the gaping hole in the wall that led to god only knew where, but he didn't have much of a choice. Dropping from midair he waited till he had gathered enough energy and hit the OverBoost just as he hit the ground. Gunner immediately dusted off in the direction opposite to the AI Acs. For a moment the Acs froze but they quickly adapted to the sudden action and made quick haste.

Alex stopped his OB as he reached the end of the hallway and then turned left running down that way trying to conserve his energy for at least a moment. He already knew that this was turning out bad. His armor had taken a beating with multiple sirens going off due to the damage. He also had suffered damage to his back beam cannon so he had no choice but to drop it. As it fell clattering to the floor, Alex thought to himself that he might not have any weapons left by the end of this mission. His Elf2 might not even make it seeing as how it took a full shot up close from one of the enemy shotguns. It didn't seem like ti was working but the computer said it did.

Of course he activated it and it nearly exploded taking his whole arm with him. He dropped the flaming Elf2 and then activated his only Hanger part, his secondary blade, the Elf. It wasn't powerful, Alex knew this, but it was enough. Suddenly, his radar glowed with three red dots heading his way fast as hell.

His energy gauge was completely filled as he dashed off trying to stay ahead of the Al Acs while still getting to his mission objective. Hopefully he would make it out alive.

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Waiting was one part of the job that Sophia couldn't stand. Even if she wasn't alone and surrounded by three full squads of Class A Mts. This particular model of Mt was amongst the best that MT Empire had to offer. They were very slow but armed and armored to the level of an Ac. They carried bazookas on top their right shoulder, a missile launcher on their left shoulder, and a massive shield in their adjoining hand.

Right now, all Sophia could picture was a GOMAP model Ac just rushing in and laying waste to every thing in sight. Sure they might be able to do damage to the damned thing but the race would be sorely in its favor. Even in a room as large as this one.

The room adjacent to the Reactor room, which in comparison was much smaller, was where they carried massive shipments of parts and the sort for constant Ac maintenance. This room was designed with Mts in mind going in and out of the Reactor room doing the necessary repairs or maintenance as needed. It was not designed however for the idea of having a full feldged Ac battle go off inside this room. In fact far from it.

But! It would be her duty to defend this base. Two reasons for that really. For one it was her duty as a Raven of the Knighthood of the Ravens to defend this base due to the fact that she accepted the contract and she was obliged to her duty.

And this objective was two-fold now. Just before she had responded to the request of this mission she had received the same request from someone other then a corporation to do the same thing. Of course, it was a little more personal. The same man, known as Marcus Barrington, Lone Wolf, had asked her as a favor to accept this mission. At first she didn't even want to bother with it but since she owed Marcus one for saving her little brother from the wrath of the Frighteners, she didn't have much of a choice. It was that or her honor and that she held very dear to herself.

As to why he wanted this base to make it was beyond her, she still accepted it and now faced a horrid dilemma. Her best bet was to have the three A.I. Acs put a dent in her enemies armor then use the Mts as a leverage against him or her. Since they were un-piloted it wouldn't matter that much.

"Still," She spoke quietly as she got a message that a single unit was making its way done the corridor leading to her location at a moderately slow pace only confirming her suspicions, "It might not matter that much."

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"Son of a cocking-sucking bitch!" Alex screamed as he twisted his Ac around to face the Rifle Ac that had yet again found it, sway behind him. He fired a barrage of machine gunfire and then fired a small stream of missiles.

The AI Ac took the full brunt of it losing both its rifles and it's arms. It still had it's own missiles and a grenade launcher and computed that using those would better at the moment.

It fired both in unison and nailed Gunners right shoulder for some almost arm-ripping damage. And unfortunately for Alex, he was moving at max speed as he got hit and found him self-spinning around nearly tearing his Acs ankle joints clean off. He finally regained control just as he hit a massive sized door leading to only god knows where.

The three AI Ac's stopped just out of Alex's firing range and started to formulate plans through a network linking the three of them. For a moment nothing came up as they analyzed critical data from the three encounters they had with their target. But in each one they soon found that their target's skill was quickly growing at a pace that was nearly higher then what the CPUs of the AI Acs could handle themselves. They calculated that the more they fought, much contrary to their own design, the more Alex got angry, and the more angry their target became, the stronger and faster he fought.

There was also something else that disturbed the Al Acs if they could even be disturbed. More like befuddled. The level that their Target, this Alexander Xavior Torrin, fought at was at a level that should be far more then what the Ac designated as Gunner should be able to handle.

Alex waited impatiently as the three machines of annoyance, as he soon started to call them, stood their ground far away from him. It was definitely a much-needed break considering that he had been getting heated throughout the battles. During their second encounter through the hallways, they had repeatedly pinned him in places he didn't want to fight in. Sure he had dished out some damage to them but it wasn't as much as they had done to him. He was at barely yellow level, around three thousand Ap, by the time he had entered this oddly cone shaped room. All of his Ammo reserves were shot to hell with his Grenade Launcher biting it also. And the last blow had completely shredded his armor to the red level at nearly less then two thousand.

With blood dripping down his face from the right side panel shorting out and sending shrapnel at him, sweat pouring out of every pore in his body, and heat constantly rising in the cockpit only making it all the more uncomfortable. He realized that he needed to end this now.

So he decided to stop bullshitting around and get serious. He closed his eyes for a moment and then said the words, "And then the Raven cried Nevermor." It wasn't anything special. For him it was the only good thing that he remembered from his somewhat painful past. In his past he had done a lot of things, most of them really really stupid. But the one thing that he cherished beyond anything were the memories of his deceased sister. She had been the only thing that he had truly treasured and with her death, he had nearly lost it.

However, when he had ever came close to getting really angry, a level of anger that he had only been in once before and he had nearly paid for it, he always said the one thing that his sister loved to say.

And then the Raven Cried Nevermore,

She always said with a smile that always reminded him of what he lived for and yearned to become a pilot for. It had always filled him with such a surge of energy and tingling for real Ac combat.

Grinning slightly, he clutched the controls to his Ac Gunner and looked forward at the only working screen in view. With the left and right out of commission he would have to use all of his senses. And with all three Acs in his view he decided to end this here and now starting first. He dashed forward firing as many missiles as he could. One after another they came out each one finding a target to claim .

The three AI Acs reacted as fast as any supercomputer could react and nimbly dodged the missiles with no problem. But even as fast as they could compute, Alex had hit the OB on his Ac and disappeared to the left from their view.

As they dodged the last of the missiles, he continued forward and then twisted against the straining from his Acs joints, and struck the Rifle Ac from the side with a full force stab from his Elf. The AI Ac didn't even see it coming. The Blade sliced through the core's armor with no problem and sputtered as the generator inside died cutting off power to the computer.

The other two AI Acs saw this and charged Alex with an emotion less fury. Alex grinned again and ripped his blade out from the dead Rifle Ac and charged the other two.

They resumed their earlier tactic of rotating around each other, alternating their fire. But Alex weaved his way through the incoming fire and found a gap in their firing sequence. The empty time between when Shotgun Ac came up to fire was longer then the Machine Gun Ac. He saw that and charged through with no remorse and he past the Shotgun Ac and sliced through the Machine Gun Ac's midsection joint. Then he spun around hard hearing the Ac groaned against the endeavor, protesting loudly at their pilot. Once he spun around he flipped up his machine gun and fired at the Ac with every round left.

Drilling the Ac in the back where it wasn't as heavily armored, it tore quickly through it's Titanium S shell and started shredding everything that the poor Ac needed to continue fighting.

The Ac first fell to it's knees then slowly tumbled forward hitting the ground with an echoing thud.

Alex sighed as the feeling he had from earlier dissipated. It had always felt like he was filled with a glowing sensation. Of course no one had ever mentioned anything. But right now he felt like shit. He was exhausted and hot as hell considering the temp in the cockpit spiked up to ninety plus degrees.

So desperately needing air that wasn't filled with his own stench, he hit the release button for the cockpit and watched relieved as the blastshield to his little furnace opened sucking the hot air out and throwing in the coolest little breeze he had ever felt. He nearly pissed his pants as he unstuck himself from the trap he was just in and walked out to the edge of the flipped down blast shield, feeling the cold air enveloping him and cleansing his body of that abhorrent heat from earlier. There he stood looking over the path of destruction he just laid out. He couldn't help but have mixed feelings about it.

For one he was a man dedicated to enhancing himself to become better through tests of endurance and skill. Even for just AI Acs, it had been a while since he had a battle that rigorous in nature. Even the battle with Ace didn't compare.

But he often questioned himself, wondering if he still reserved the right to fight with such a powerful weapon of mass destruction. This little scene was just a testament to what he could do with an Ac. And even if he didn't kill anyone or hurt anyone in this battle, it showed that he had the same power that every Raven for some reason or another took for granted. He didn't like it. But then again, he loved the feeling of battle. He couldn't get enough of it. He loved fighting human opponents also because it had always given him the greatest and best challenges he could ever hope for. With this type of mindset, the two had always conflicted but he was always able to retain his sanity and never take his power for granted.

To do so would only repeat the horrors of his past that were etched into his mind.

But now there was something else on his mind. Something that he really couldn't explain. He did know that what ever it was that was clawing at the back of his mind started to the moment he had entered this room. Now looking throughout the room, there was nothing here save for a two adjacent pillars and a massive sized gate on the other end.

The moment Alex looked at the door, a wrenching feeling in his stomach took over and he knew for a fact that even though every sensor and warning in his body was screaming "don't think about it!", he wouldn't be able to help himself. He gazed at the door for a moment longer, curious to know exactly what was on the other side and then decided to chance it.

He jumped back in Gunner's control center and restarted the machine up again. He could hear the whine of the Ac protesting, so desiring a quick repair job but Alex ignored it and continued on.

For one thing the closer he got to the unopened gate that beckoned him away, he quickly realized that he really needed to stop his course of action. His body was tingling danger and he couldn't help but get this sense of foreboding danger if he opened this gateway to the unknown. As if he knew for a fact that something was here that would grab him even before he opened the door and just tear him in two. It didn't happen of course and even against the screaming wishes of his entire body, Alex mindlessly hacked in to the gate panel and watched with awe, fright, and suspense as the whole room shook with the rumbling and creaking of gears forced the wall of a door to open ever so slowly.

Alex almost couldn't stand it as the wall took its precious time to open but when it did, he could see nothing but darkness. Whatever room this door led to, it was offly dark.

Suddenly Gunner's external lights activated trying to force some light into this vacuum of electrons and photons. He still couldn't see hardly anything. Moving Gunner in slowly but surely, he took only a couple of steps before something started to appear in front of him. At first he couldn't tell what it was. Continuing his pursuit forward, he guided Gunner through what seemed like a jungle of cables and equipment hanging down.

As wires and cords slither off of Gunner mangled armor harmlessly, Alex, armed with his usual over active imagination, was seeing things that weren't even there. At first, it looked like nothing but then It looked like something was moving in the shadows. For a moment Alex thought about shooting it, but then realized that he had used up all of his machine gun ammo and he really didn't feel like going after whatever was supposedly moving with only a blade. So instead he tried to imagine it away until his Ac suddenly hit something in front of him.

Startled beyond anything, Alex moved back a couple of steps before stopping and trying to take in what had just happened. Other then the fact that he had hit something, he had no clue as to what had happened. He focused his attention to the obviously present object in front of him. At first there was nothing there. Then a she peered harder, he could make out distinct shapes. It was oval in shape, with the lower section jutting out a bit. In the middle there was something that curved out and extended only as far as the lower section. Slightly above the middle there were two gaping hole and at the top there were these rods sticking out.

Alex maneuvered his Ac closer even though no it felt like the Ac it self was trying to stay away and made out more of the mysterious shape in front of him. Soon, it dawned on him what exactly the shape was. And it had made Alex nearly shit in his pants. Slowly moving the Ac back as he felt fear trying to seize him of his control, Gunner stepped on a switch lying on the floor crushing it but sending one last signal to the massive overhead lights above.

As the luminescent lights exploded from up above, Alex cringed at the pain sent through his eyes to his brain. It wasn't much it just startled him. But what startled him even more was the object that so delectably decided to reveal itself to him at that moment.

Reeling back in putrid fear, Alex recognized it at a moment's notice. It was one of the monstrosities known as the "Massive Mts."


End file.
